


Goddamn Stairs!

by AMF_studios



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blaise is a shipper!, Dark Doesn't Mean Evil, Dark Harry, Draco Malfoy Being an Asshole, Gen, Good Slytherins, Lets see how much we can piss off rowling., MTF Harry Potter, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Nonbinary Nymphadora Tonks, Ron Weasley Being an Asshole, Sassy Harry Potter, Slytherin Harry Potter, Tearing apart the harry potter lore, Trans Female Character, Trans Harry Potter, just because I can!, magic is weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:41:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27226720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMF_studios/pseuds/AMF_studios
Summary: Harry is put in Slytherin, despite his pleas to the sorting hat.  Ron hates him now, the stairs won't let him into his room.  And he can't talk to one of his classmates without sounding like an idiot.  What else could go wrong?
Relationships: Harry Potter & Barnaby Lee, Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini, Harry Potter & Original Female Character(s), Merula Snyde/Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Pansy Parkinson/Harry Potter
Comments: 129
Kudos: 277





	1. The Hat hates Harry

**Author's Note:**

> This is really just a setup chapter, the juicy stuff will start in chapter 2.

**Chapter 1: The hat hates Harry.**

A hat. A goddamn hat. _That_ was the sorting method? 

As much as Harry tried to wrap his head around it, the hat just didn’t make sense. Surely, there should have been numerous other options that _didn’t_ involve the hat. He supposed that the only reason he found this odd was simply that he was new to the wizarding world.

It made sense. Up until his eleventh birthday, he’d been told all his life that magic was all made believe, and that he was just some weird kid. To be honest, he had elected to just never trust what his ‘Family’ told him again. They’d said his parents had died in a drunken car crash, that was a lie. They said he was an unnatural freak and delinquent, also a lie. 

He kept his eyes on the hat as other students walked up to it as their names were called. Soon after it was placed on their heads, the Sorting Hat called out the name of one of the four houses of this supposedly great wizarding school. 

While he knew the names of each, Admittedly, he’d only learned anything about two of the houses. The ever long rivals, Gryffindor and Slytherin. The former had apparently been the house of both his parents, while the ladder… the house of their killer. 

“ _Never a wizard gone bad that wasn’t in Slytherin,_ ” He remembered Hagrid’s words. So far, he’d heard nothing good about the house of the snake. Not from the half giant that had introduced him to the Wizarding world. Not from Ronald Weasely, the first child his age to show him some real kindness. So far, it seemed as though the house really was just a bunch of bad apples.

The idea was reinforced as the Hat announced Draco Malfoy as Slytherin. Harry hadn’t known the boy long, but he could tell they would not be getting along. The blond spoke with entitlement, acting as if he was somehow above everyone else. At first, he spoke to Harry with what most would assume was respect, but he could tell why.

It was because he was famous. It wasn’t hard to tell that Draco was from a wealthy family, it was even easier to tell he only respected people in similar social stances to himself. Put simply Draco was essentially telling him, ‘you’re either with me or against me.’ 

More names were called, going down the alphabet until finally reaching the “P’s.” Harry knew his name would be called soon as the name, “Parkinson, Pansy!” was called out. 

He had to admit, the girl answering the name was rather cute. She appeared to be half-asian, having narrower eye’s than most people he’d seen, with her short, black hair in a neat bob-cut. She grinned as the hat was placed upon her head, clearly having a better idea of how this worked than Harry did. 

“ _SLYTHERIN!_ ” The hat announced after a few seconds of silence. The girl smirked as the hat was taking off her head, and she headed toward her new housemates. Clearly getting the outcome she had expected. 

“Well good for her,” Harry mumbled under his breath. If what he’d heard so far was accurate, she likely wasn’t that nice. 

After three more names were called, it was finally his turn. He could practically feel the eyes of every other student fall upon him as his name was called. He took a deep breath as he nervously walked up to the chair, upon sitting down, he saw everyone’s curious faces. It seemed everyone wanted to know where the famous ‘Boy-who-lived’ would be sorted. 

Soon after sitting down, he felt the hat placed on his head, a weird shiver going down his spine. 

“ _Curious… curious indeed_ ,” He heard the sorting hat’s voice in his head, “ _You are certainly an odd one… Plenty of talent, not a bad mind either. And a thirst… a thirst to prove yourself, but also to show the world who you are… but where to put you.._ ” 

The hat continued to mutter in Harry’s mind, time seemed to slow as all He could think was, “ _Not slytherin.. Not slytherin!_ ” 

“ _Not slytherin?_ ” The hat had practically read his mind, “ _Now that you mention it… yes. Yes! It would be perfect for you!_ ” 

“ _Wait, NO! NOT-_ ” the Boy’s thoughts were interrupted as the Hat called out, “SLYTHERIN!” 

And with that one word, the entire room went silent. Pretty much no one knew how to react to that. Harry Potter, the Boy who lived, in the same house as You-Know-Who? Blasphemy! 

The ones who knew how to react the least were the Slytherin’s themselves. Most of them looked upon the boy with looks of shock, disgust, bafflement, out of any of the houses, they expected this the least… Well, there was one positive reaction to his sorting. 

“WOOH!” A seventh year boy yelled from the slytherin table, “We got Potter, suckers!” 

As the hat was taken off his head, Harry slowly began walking to where the first years were seated. As he approached, he noticed a shiteating grin on Draco’s face. Harry was smart enough to know, the prat was planning to make his life hell.

As he sat down, trying to avoid eye contact with the blond(as well as most the other slytherins), his immediate thought was to look back to the sorting hat. Ron hadn’t been sorted yet, maybe there was a chance he’d end up in Slytherin too. At least then his first friend would still be by his side. 

The Witch calling names resumed, going down the list as more students were sorted into the other three houses, until finally she called, “Weasley, Ronald.” 

Harry perked a bit as the redhead took the seat. Unfortunately, any hope he had was dashed when the hat announced, “GRYFFINDOR!” 

He should have seen it coming, really. What were the odds that _Both_ the two who wanted to be anywhere but Slytherin would end up there. He stared at the table as he felt his new housemates staring at him. 

Before he knew it, the Hat cried out one last time, “Slytherin!” 

He looked up to see the last student, a black boy around his age, had been sorted into his house. He hadn’t heard the boys name, as he’d been too caught up in his own thoughts. The boy came up to the table at a moderate pace, a satisfied expression adorning his face. 

To Harry’s surprise, the boy came over and took the seat next to him, despite the rather numerous open spaces around the table. 

“Harry Potter, Right?” The boy asked. Harry simply nodded. The boy held out his hand, “Blaise. Pleased to meet you.” 

Well, it was better than just staring like the other students had, the least he could do was be polite, “you too.” 

“Not exactly happy with the sorting?” Blaise asked. 

“You could say that,” Harry replied. 

“I understand. To be honest, I’m kinda here reluctantly too,” The other boy continued, “I mean, not Slytherin specifically, I asked to be put here. I meant Hogwarts in general. I was supposed to go to the French wizarding school but… eh, life got in the way.” 

“Really?” Harry looked at him, “so… why’d you ask for Slytherin?” 

“You looked like you needed some company!” Blaise replied with a grin. 

Harry perked up at that. This Blaise kid seemed rather friendly. Maybe he was judging slytherin a bit too quickly… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reverse psychology is a bitch.


	2. And so do the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoilers for Hogwarts mystery, You have been warned.

**Chapter 2: and so do the stairs**

After by far the best dinner Harry had ever had in his life, and a nonsense speech by the headmaster, which he didn’t really pay attention to, it was time for the students to head to their dorms. One by one, the houses were dismissed, until finally it was Slytherin’s turn. 

“First years, come with me!” One of the older girls announced, motioning for us to follow as she left the room. 

All the other students got up from the table to follow her. Harry and Blaise being among the last of the first years to leave. The girl began leading them through the winding hallways of the school, which to be honest calling it a castle was more accurate. 

Harry was in awe as he saw the many stares of the main tower moving. Actually moving causing them to lead to different places every so often. The girl in the lead began descending down a flight leading to the lower floors, the younger student’s following behind. 

Eventually, they reached the final flight which led to the dungeons… basically just the castle’s basement. The group continued to walk until stopping at an iron door with snake-like decoration, including a snake shaped doorknob. 

“Alright listen up,” the girl who had been leading us said, “Slytherin house has a password to enter. This password changes every month, so make sure you regularly check the notice board so you don’t lose track. Under no circumstances may you tell the password to any of the other houses.  _ Especially  _ Tonks or the Weasley twins. Merlin knows how many ways they  _ already _ have to get in here.” 

Harry didn’t know who Tonks was, but he could guess the Weasley twins were Ron’s elder brothers. He did mention that they have a trouble-making streak, so it actually made sense that the other students wanted to avoid them when possible.

The girl leaned into the door and whispered, “ _ ouroboros _ .”

With a rattle, the door shuttered open revealing the room beyond. As Harry entered, he was met with the gothic decoration of the room. Mostly made of stone, the room had dark green wallpaper, couches and rugs. Silver framed paintings adorned the walls, showing moving images of what Harry assumed were former members of the house of snakes. The windows allowed a vision to the murky lake outside. if one were to look, they could see the fish, or maybe even the giant squid, swimming without a care. 

“Welcome to Slytherin house,” The girl said walking in, “Or as we like to call it; the Snake Pit.” 

Snake Pit seemed like a fitting name. This house definitely had its dark aesthetic down to a T. It was like a secret lair down here. 

“I could get used to this place!” He heard Draco laugh. 

It seemed as though many of the students were already becoming acquainted with their new home away from home, a few reclining on the chairs and couches. Some admiring the view from windows. Generally, just settling in. 

“This place is wicked!” Blaise said looking around. 

“It’s definitely… something,” Harry nodded. 

He noticed a group of the older students talking, including the girl who’d led them here. Based on there only being about fifty or sixty students in slytherin total, this seemed to be the entire seventh year class. The group broke up and came to the middle of the room. 

“Attention, can I have everyone’s attention for a moment!” The girl announced, brushing her shoulder length, black hair from her face. When she was sure all eyes were on her she continued, “Alright, The seventh years and I would like to make introductions, just to clue you firsties in on what to expect. I’m one of your prefects, Maria Spade. But just Mari will suffice thankyou.” 

“Spade? I’ve heard of you!” Harry heard someone say. Turning, he noticed evidently that someone was Pansy, “Didn’t your brother go missing looking for some secret chamber on the grounds?” 

“Yes, yes he did,” Mari replied, “Jacob was as cunning as any slytherin, but he was also as reckless as a gryffindor.”

“Back on topic…” A girl with hair as messy as Harry’s said, a bit of a scottish accent in her voice. 

“Yes, Merula, thankyou,” Mari nodded with a sigh, “You see… Last year, Slytherin suffered in a way that devastated us all. I won’t go into details but… One of our own met his untimely demise.” 

That certainly brought the mood down. 

“Rowan Khanna was one of most studious snakes… and he died protecting his classmates,” the prefect said, eyes a little watery, “So, As his class, we seventh years have agreed to pay his sacrifice forward, and do whatever we can to help you younger-years. Hopefully, our mistakes can lead to your triumph. If anyone needs help in potions, charms, flying, or just some emotional support, you know where to find me.” 

As she finished her piece, another student stood up. He was quite muscular and had short, spiky brown hair, with a chipper grin on his face. 

“Hey lot, name’s Barnaby Lee,” He said. As he spoke, Harry recognised his voice as the one who showed enthusiasm to his sorting, “I ain’t the brightest one in the room, but if you need help in anything practical I’m your guy. Hope we get along just fine.” 

“Merula snyde,” The scottish girl spoke up. As she became more visible, Harry noticed she looked quite sleep deprived, and had a tuff of golden hair among her brown mane, “I can help with whatever, but my best class is DADA. I'm also free ta talk Quidditch if anyone’s willing.”

Something told Harry she’d get along with Ron, given how much he talked his ear off about the wizarding sport.” 

“Ismelda Murk,” A pale skinned girl with a scarf around her neck and long, dark hair said, “I’m not really used to helping… But I am pretty good with curses…” 

Harry made a mental note to avoid her when possible.

“And, I’m Liz,” A black girl with glasses spoke up, her curly hair in a bun, “I’ve been called a walking encyclopedia more than once, so I’ll be sure to help if anyone has trouble understanding things.” 

Really? There were only five of them? Harry realized that counting their deceased classmate, the seventh year slytherin class would have only been six people! Even his class had ten members, and a few of the upper years had a few more. It seemed like Slytherin in general was the least popular house… 

“With our introductions aside, I’m going to briefly explain the house rules, after that you can settle in,” Mari spoke up again. 

“Isn’t the head of house supposed to do that?” A boy in Harry’s year asked.

“Yeah, Professor Snape tends not to. The bloke’s brilliant but ‘e pretty much hates everyone,” Merula answered with an impassive shrug.

“Prof. Snape will be giving you your schedule’s tomorrow,” Mari spoke up, “But, yes, he typically leaves he’s introduction duties to whichever Prefect is willing to do it.”

So slytherin had the smallest class sizes, and a neglectful head of house… great. 

“Anyway… You are now members of the House of the Snake, this means you either are, or have the potential to be, cunning, intelligent, and ambitious magic users. Afterall, Merlin himself was in this house,” Mari proceeded to explain. 

“You’ve undoubtedly heard of slytherin’s… less than stellar reputation,” Merula added, “They say every dark witch or wizard came from our house, and all that. Don’t listen. While yes, Slytherin’s produced the  _ most _ of them, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor aren’t far behind. The only house who can say they don’t have  _ any _ dark witches or wizards is Hufflepuff… but come on, who does that surprise?” 

Most of the other students laughed at this. Thankfully, Blaise and a few of the girls didn’t get the joke either, so Harry didn’t exactly feel left out.

“But that reputation is the direct cause of our first two rules,” Liz said, “Due to many thinking we’re all destined to become Death Eaters, other students may try to antagonise or even attack you if they catch you alone. Especially the Gryffs.” 

“Hence our first rule, the buddy system,” Mari nodded, “When you leave the common room, try to keep close to at least one other slytherin. Though a group of three or more is definitely preferable.”

Harry nodded, as well as most the first years. It was a fairly simple rule that seemed practical enough.

“Next up. If you have problems with other slytherins, keep it in here,” Barnaby said, “None of us are encouraging violence, but if you’re having issues we need to keep it within the common room.” 

“The fact is, those who would  _ want _ to attack us, would wait until the best moment to do so, like by surprise when you’re busy squabbling with another slytherin,” Ismelda explained in a deadpan voice. 

“When outside the common room, We must all put on a united front. I’m not saying you have to be best friends with someone you hate, but you at least have to be civil about it,” Mari finished, “If any prefects or the Head of house catch you pulling a Snyde, you will regret it.” 

That statement got a lot of weird glances and confused looks, clearly no one knew what she meant by, ‘Pulling a Snyde.’ 

“A Snyde is when you deliberately bully or harm a member of your own house,” the Prefect girl clarified. 

“We named it after Merula because of how big a bitch she was in her first three years!” Ismelda gave a tired chuckle as the scottish girl groaned. 

“What can I say, the name stuck,” Mari shrugged, “Anyway, rule 3: All students are in bed by curfew, that one is easy to remember unless you’re a night owl.”

“The remainder of the rules are pretty standard, boys and girls in separate rooms, Prefects get their own rooms, Extra curricular activities are only available if you have mostly acceptable grades,” Liz listed off. 

“If anyone’s interested in joining the Quidditch team, Please talk to our current captain, Marcus Flint,” Barnaby added. 

“The dorm’s are over there, boys on the left, girls on the right,” Mari continued, pointing to a door, “And… that's about it, really. Get settled in, and get some rest, classes begin tomorrow!” 

With that, the seventh years’ announcements came to a close. Liz and Ismelda left for the dorms, likely wanting to get some sleep, While the other three stayed behind, since Mari was a prefect, Harry guessed she was waiting for everyone else first. 

Draco and his goons took off immediately, likely wanting to get their hands on the best beds. The other students soon began to file into the other room as well. 

“Shall we?” Blaise asked. 

“Um.. sure,” Harry said following after him. 

“From what I’ve heard our things should already be in our rooms, really all we have to do is personalize,” the other boy explained. 

The two entered the next room, which simply had two staircases leading to dorms. Mari said it herself, the left fleet of stairs led to the boys’ dorms. Blaise began running up the stairs, eager to check out his new room. 

Harry came behind him, however he only managed to to get to the four step, when suddenly, out of nowhere, the step he was on, and the three below him turn into a slide, causing him to fall backwards and land on his butt. 

“OW!” He said as he hit the hard flooring. 

Soon after, the four steps returned giving him a bit of confusion. 

“Harry?” Blaise said, at least eight steps up, “You alright mate?” 

“Fine, something just happened with the stairs…” Harry said, looking at the stone steps in suspicion. He once again tried to ascend the stairs, however once again, they converted into a slide causing him to fall. 

“Why isn’t it letting you up?” Blaise said walking down. 

“I don’t know,” Harry said, “Everyone else came up just fine…”

The door opened behind them as Mari, Barnaby and Merula entered the room. 

“Alright, who broke the rules on the first day?” Merula asked. 

“Wh- what do you mean? We didn’t break any rules!” Blaise said. 

“We heard the stairs go off,” Barnaby said. He placed his foot on the second step of the girls’ stairs. Soon after, they converted to a slide just like the Boys’ stairs had.

“They’re warded to stop anyone from the opposite gender from entering the wrong room, All the dorms have them,” Mari said, “So… which one of you tried to get into the girls’ room?” 

“W-we didn’t!” Harry said, “The stairs won’t let me up, see!” 

He demonstrated, once again not making it passed the fifth step.

“Huh…” Mari said, examining the steps. She tried to walk up,getting the same result as Harry (Only landing more gracefully), “The ward’s still working…” 

“So, why can’t Harry go up?” Blaise asked with concern. 

“Well… if nothing’s wrong with the wards, it must be something with Harry that’s not letting him up…” Mari explained, “A similar thing happened to me my first year, but… Well… he can use one of the spare prefect rooms until we get this figured out.” 

“I’ll get his stuff,” Barnaby said, before going up the stairs, not facing any of the trouble Harry was. 

“You can go to your room, Zabini,” Mari said, “Potter, come on.” 

“Um.. see ya in the morning, Harry,” Blaise gave an unsure grin, before going up. 

Harry waved unsurely, before following Mari out of the room and into another one. This one was simply a hallway that had six rooms off of it. 

“We won’t get our fifth Year prefects for a couple weeks, so we’ve got two spare bedrooms for now. Should only be a temporary thing,” Mari said. Looking Harry up in down. She knew something was up with him, one didn’t become a prefect by being unobservant… unless your name was Percy Weasely. 

She opened the door to one of the empty rooms, a spacious circle with a four-poster bed with green coves, a dresser, and a door that led to a private bathroom(the perks of being a prefect). 

“Barnaby will be back with your stuff in just a bit,” Mari said, moving to one of the other rooms, most likely her’s, “If you need anything, I’m just down the hall.” 

“Thank’s…” Harry nodded, she gave him one last glance before closing her door. He entered the spare bedroom and simply lied down… it was much more comfortable than his cupboard. Before he knew it, he drifted off to sleep…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp, now the title makes sense!
> 
> And yeah, I've wanted to see the Hogwarts Mystery class interact with more of the main series cast for a while now. And given the 6 year age gap, Having the seventh year Slytherins decide to take the newcomers under their wing felt the best way to do it. 
> 
> Maria Spade is basically the character I used for Hogwarts mystery, so she takes the role of Jacob's siling here. More Original characters will appear to fill out the upper years, but not many of them will have much of an impact.
> 
> Stay tuned for the next chapter: the Slytherin Reputation... whenever I get to that.


	3. The Slytherin Reputation

**Chapter 3: the Slytherin Reputation**

“Potter! Rise an’ shine!” Harry woke to Barnaby's voice outside the door. 

“Ugh…” The boy said, blowing a bit of hair out of his face, “Well… glad to know I wasn’t dreaming…” 

He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand, after which he noticed his trunk by the door. He had guessed Barnaby slipped it in after he fell asleep. 

Oh yeah, He fell asleep… which meant it was the first day of classes. 

“It’s the first day of classes… Oh my god, it’s the first day of classes!” He exclaimed, jumping from his temporary bed. He quickly changed into his school robes, which were now accented with slytherin green. You know what, he didn’t care. Sure he was in the same house as a prick, but he didn’t care, he was about to learn freaking magic.

He gave an honest effort to control his hair, at least look presentable for his first day. After a few minutes he excepted it was a lost cause. Maybe if it stayed short it’d be easier to manage… no, he liked it long. To be honest, he’d have it longer if he didn’t want to be mistaken for a girl. After a while, he finally left the room to see his upperclassman waiting for him. 

“Took ya long enough,” Barnaby laughed, “Come on, the lot of us are heading to breakfast.”

“Right,” He replied as the two began walking, “So… any idea what was up with the stairs last night?” 

“Eh, Mari says she has an idea, but she wants to wait a bit to see if she’s right,” The older slytherin replied, “Don’t worry, shouldn’t take more than a week or two… unless Snape holds her up.” 

“Snape?” Harry asked. 

“Our head of house and Hogwarts’ resident dungeon bat,” Barnaby replied, “since he’s also the castle’s potions master, he’s usually pretty busy between his classes and brewing up something for someone that us prefects need to work overtime.” 

“Sounds hard…” Harry said. 

“Yeah, well, at least  _ I’m _ not the one who has to give him the morning reports,” Barnaby chuckled. 

Yeah, that job was Mari’s. 

The prefect groaned as she entered the potions lab. The smell of chemicals and preserved pieces of creatures assaulted her nostrils. Mari wasn’t a morning witch by a long shot, and having to deal with the thick smells of Prof. Snape’s office didn’t help at all. 

She gave a knock at the wooden door, having well enough learned never to walk in on the professor unexpectedly. 

“Who is it?” A low voice asked from beyond the door. 

“Prefect Spade, sir,” Mari sighed. 

“Give me a moment,” was said in replied. She heard a few sounds of moving objects as a few seconds passed. Finally, the door was opened by her head of house, Severus Snape. 

The tall man had pale skin that would likely make one thing he was ill, and greasy dark hair going down to his back. The wizard wore black robes, making it so calling him a vampire was not only reasonable, but actually a regular occurance. 

“You’re here with the morning report, Spade?” He asked, his chilling voice still made Mari shiver.

The prefect adjusted her glasses, “Yes professor. As usual, the first year class didn’t exceed fifteen students.” 

“Slytherin’s high standards are often hard to meet…” Prof. Snape nodded, “I take it they were informed of what’s expected of them?” 

“Yes, sir. I explained the rules myself,” Mari nodded. 

“Verywell,” Snape said, “Anything unusual to report, or is that all?” 

“Well, one student did seem to have trouble with the stairs, sir,” The prefect explained, careful not to specify  _ who  _ said student was, for fear how her head of house would react, “Prefect Lee and I checked the wards, they’re working just fine, they just won’t allow him to enter the dorms.” 

“Hmm… am I to assume this student is of similar circumstance to yourself?” The professor inquired. 

“I have my suspicions, but currently not enough evidence to say anything,” Mari answered, “I’ve placed him in a spare Prefect room until I can say for sure.” 

“Verywell. Keep track of them, if any changes are brought to light tell the student to consult me, and we’ll have this sorted out,” Snape said returning to his office, waving her off “Dismissed.” 

“Yes sir,” She nodded as the door shut. She let out a shiver, why did this room have to be so cold in the mornings? “I hate doing this.” 

She turned away and began walking to the dining hall, she needed a pick-me-up.

Around the same time, the first years left for the dining hall as well. Barnaby was holding them up for Harry(as well as one of the girls who was very stubborn about waking up,) because he’d be leading them back to it. Evidently, either he, Mari, or one of the sixth year prefects would be leading them to each area of the castle for the first week. After that, it was the first year’s responsibility to remember where everything was. 

Honestly, Harry wasn’t sure he’d be able to remember the layout of this place. It was huge! Not to mention the frequently moving stairs would make things difficult… the stairs here were just out to get him, weren’t they?

Thankfully, the walk from dungeons to the stairs was rather simple, however they did get cut off at the Hufflepuff entrance. Since Hufflepuff had much less criteria for admittance, their first year class was more than double that of Slytherin’s. As such, the prefect was still filing them out of the room. 

And as for the prefect herself, boy did she(well… she kinda looked like a she) have a ‘magical’ look to her. I mean, short magenta hair classing with her black and yellow robes. Weird thing about her was… she kind of looked like she wasn’t either gender. All her features seemed to be just somewhere between male and female… 

“So, it’s a neutral day, tonks?” Barnaby addressed her with a grin. 

The other prefect grinned back and shrugged, “What can I say, I woke up with a feeling.”

He nodded before telling the student’s he was leading, “Firsties, this is Tonks. They’re pretty friendly, but do not piss them off, cause they’re tied with Tulip and the Weasley twins for the best prankster in the school.” 

Tonks huh? The same one who was under no circumstances to be told the password to the Snake Pit? Harry guessed she must be friendly if someone like that could still have a good laugh with a member of the house everyone supposedly hates.

“Honestly, even I’m surprised someone as chaotic as me became a prefect,” Tonks laughed, their hair changing to a yellow tone, Harry looked at them in disbelief. They noticed the last of their first years left the common room, “Well, I gotta get going, see ya in Herbology, Barney!” 

“See ya!” Barnaby laughed, motioning his first years to continue walking. 

“Um…” Harry was about to ask something, but wasn’t sure how to put it. Thankfully, it seemed Blaise was wondering the same thing.

“What was up with her hair?” the boy asked. Evidently hair color changing on a whim wasn’t exactly common, even to wizards. 

“Well, Tonks isn’t an ordinary person,” Barnaby explained, “Ya see, they’re something called a ‘Metamorphmagus,’ Which is honestly just a fancy way to say, they can shapeshift to look however they want. Which is why, I’ve just started using they/them for them. You have no idea how many times they’ve flip flopped between genders.” 

The ability to look however you wanted, not held by biological laws? In Harry’s mind,  _ that _ was a cool power. He’d have to ask them how they got like that later. 

“You’d think with that kind of power she could get a decent haircut,” Draco laughed.

“Says the kid who uses more hair gel than half the house put together?” The boy whose name Harry hadn’t gotten yet quipped. Draco looked at him with a scowl. 

“Come on, firsties, you can argue when we get to the great hall, just make sure the other houses can’t hear you,” Barnaby said, pulling the two along. The rest of the slytherins followed close behind.

The group made it to the great halls about the same time as the Gryffindors, which was actually pretty great timing. Harry had been wanting to talk to Ron since the sorting ceremony last night, but had yet to get the chance given they weren’t allowed to leave their house tables on the first night, and right after dinner they’d gone straight to their houses. 

Harry spotted the Gryff’s signature red hair among the group of first years, “Hey, Ron!” 

The other boy clearly heard him, but didn’t look in his direction. Instead, he just kept talking to another keep in his year as the Gryffindor’s entered the great hall. 

“What the heck?” Harry asked as he lost sight of him. 

“You know him?” Blaise asked. 

“We met on the train, hit it off pretty quickly,” Harry replied, “I know he’s not very fond of Slytherins, but…” 

“That’s the Slytherin reputation, for you,” Barnaby sighed, “We get a few bad apples, now everyone hates us. At least some of the Ravens and Puffs tend to go easy on us. Come on, lot, let’s eat.”

With a sigh, Harry followed his class to the table. Sure, this wasn’t the best start to a day… but it’d get better, he was sure… probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, you expect me to believe someone who can shapeshift into ANYTHING they want and is known to be more than a little unpredictable, WOULDN'T be Nonbinary? Tonks' existence would be the biggest middle finger to gender roles the universe could give, purely because they can look however they want!
> 
> And yeah, I kinda like the angle that Snape does care about his students well being, he's just very standoffish and untrusting... especially to Gryffindors and anyone with the first name 'James' and Last name 'Potter,' Or anyone that's all of the above. 
> 
> Honestly, I kinda wanna see how far Mari could get just playing the pronoun game, and what ridiculous misunderstandings it could lead to.
> 
> Anywho, stay tuned for the next chapter; The First Day


	4. The First day

**Chapter 4: The First day**

  
  


Once again, Hogwarts had amazing food! The breakfast presented on the Slytherin table was the most expansive breakfast Harry had ever seen. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, waffles, cereal, practically everything! The boy’s mouth watered as he waited for his classmates to get themselves food first. 

“Um… aren’t you going to eat?” One of the girls, Daphne he thought her name was, asked, looking at him inquisitively. 

“Oh.. I’m just used to eating last,” Harry replied, a tad embarrassed. He definitely was used to eating last… if he ate at all. Usually he was more likely to make the food, rather than eat it thanks to his ‘Loving family.’ 

“Well, you’d best start eating now. Performing magic on an empty stomach almost never goes well,” Pansy said, looking up from some wizard magazine she’d gotten from the mail owls. Harry still thought owl’s were an odd way of communication, even if he did find the owl Hagrid got him splendid. 

Blushing a little, he started putting a modest amount of food on his plate, and by modest, I mean small. Even with all this food right in front of him, it was hard to break years of conditioning. The amount of food he got gained some odd looks from his classmates, even Draco was confused by how little he was eating.

When it became clear he wasn’t going to talk about this, Tracey Davis, a girl with brown hair in a similar cut to Pansy’s, just much messier, and rectangular glasses decided to change the subject. 

“So Harry,” She started in a casual tone, her accent seemed somewhere in between british and american, “Is it true what they say about you being some kind of prodigy? I’ve read from all the books you’ve been well tutored.” 

Harry paused at what she said. While he was glad that the overall shock everyone had at his sorting had died down enough for those other Blaise could actually talk to him, he was completely unsure how to react to that question. 

Mostly because, it was blatantly wrong. No one had ever tutored him in the past, especially not in magic! Hell, he didn’t know he was a wizard until his eleventh birthday! While the bursts of accidental magic from his youth told him magic likely would come to him like second nature, he definitely wasn’t some prodigy… probably, he didn’t know yet.

“I’m… in books?” He asked, he felt that was the best thing to start with. 

“Um… yes?” Blaise replied, “ya didn’t know, mate? I thought you’d be rich just off the royalty checks!” 

“No, I’ve never known…” He said simply, “Then again, I didn’t even know I was a wizard til last month, so I guess it makes sense I wouldn’t know about it.” 

His classmates weren’t sure what was more odd. The fact that Harry freakin Potter, the one to do in the dark lord when he was a toddler, the  _ Boy who Lived _ had no idea he was a wizard until last month… or how nonchalantly he said it! 

“ _ Why _ didn’t you know you were a wizard? Both your parents were magic, so there should have been someone to tell you,” Pansy asked.

“Uh… I uh, live with my Aunt and Uncle… they don’t really like magic much…” Harry replied with a bit of a blush. 

“You were raised by No-maj’s?” Tracey asked, getting silence until she clarified, “Muggles! Sorry, I have a lot of american relatives, I tend to confuse the dialect.” 

“Um, yes. They’re muggles. They never really approved of my mum being a witch,” Harry replied. 

“Heh, so what you’re saying is you’re basically no better than a Mudblood!” Draco snickered, his cronies joining in his laughter. However that laughter stopped when he felt a cold hand touch his shoulder. 

“Mr. Malfoy, I would recommend ceasing the use of Blood slurs, I do not want to remove points from my own house on the first day,” the low voice caused all the first years to jump, as none of them had heard Mr. Tall, dark and creepy approach, “I believe you have all been informed who I am.” 

“Yes, Professor Snape,” Was unanimously said. 

“And, you know what is expected of you as slytherins?” The professor asked. When he received a nod from his first years, he pulled ten sheets of parchment from his cloak, “These are your class schedules. I am expecting you to bring honor and glory to the Slytherin name, as many students have before you, Understand?” 

“Yes, sir,” everyone quietly replied.

The professor handed each of them one of the sheets, Harry could have sworn he was silently cursing him with the angry look in his eyes. After everyone received their schedules, he made his leave back to the faculty table. 

“What does he teach?” Harry asked nervously. 

“Potions. Evidently he’s the youngest person to ever receive a mastery in it, at least in Britain,” Daphne said, her calm tone betrayed by the slightly nervous expression she wore. 

“Good news is we only have that class on fridays…” Blaise sighed in relief after opening his schedule. 

Most the first years followed his lead, getting a look at the full schedule. It was true. According to Harry’s list, his first day would have four classes: Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, in that order. Each class lasted a little over an hour. Tomorrow he’d have Charms, Herbology and History of Magic. Wednesday would also have Charms and History of Magic, but DADA would take the third spot. Thursday would be Transfiguration, DADA, and Herbology, than finally Friday was Flying class, Potions, Charms, and transfiguration… an odd schedule, but it seemed to be in order. 

The first charms class was to start at 9:00, just after breakfast. He couldn’t wait!

… 

“This cannot be good, this cannot be good…” Albus Dumbledore said to himself as he paced around his office. It was beginning to seem like all of his careful planning, everything he’d put in place to prepare for Voldemort’s return was about to be wasted… All because Harry Potter got put in Slytherin.

Dumbledore had big plans for that boy, big plans indeed. But those plans didn’t account for the Sorting hat putting him in the house of the Snake. Gryffindor was preferable, Hufflepuff just slightly less, he’d even thought of a way he could get a Ravenclaw Harry Potter to work to his advantage, but Slytherin? 

With this year’s Slytherin class, there were just too many variables. The fact one of their prefects was the witch who said she’d find the legendary cursed vaults, and  _ actually _ followed through with it was damning. 

Then there was the fact the head of house was one of best Legiliments of his time, one which, given prolonged exposure to the boy, would no doubt figure out his… less than desirable upbringing. 

And unlike the other houses, the Upperclassmen were beginning to doubt the Headmaster’s abilities after the Rakepick situation, so it wasn’t as if they’d be easily manipulated. Put simply, Slytherin was the house Dumbledore had the least control over.

He wasn’t even sure how this had happened! He’d made sure to do what he could to steer the boy who lived in the right direction. That’s why he’d sent Hagrid of all people to introduce him to the Wizarding world. After what happened in the half-giant’s third year, of course he’d be one to talk bad about slytherin without asking why. 

When he saw that the boy seemed to have struck a friendship with the youngest Weasley son, he was overjoyed. That family had been Gryffindor’s for generations, sure there was a close call with Percy Weasley almost being a slytherin, but he wound up in the right house in the end! He was sure Ronald would steer Harry into Gryffindor’s open arms. 

But no. That goddamn hat decided it wanted a say in Harry’s destiny. 

“Maybe if you had more ‘Ethical’ methods of ‘Leading the world to light,’ these kind of things wouldn’t happen,” The sorting hat said, a bit of a chuckle in its voice.

“Would you be quiet,” Dumbledore yelled back, “Why the bloody hell did you do this?” 

“Why’d I put the kid in the one place she could achieve her true potential, as well as the house you could manipulate her the least in? Gee, I wonder,” The hat replied.

“Would you stop calling him that. He’s the  _ Boy _ who lived, not some girl,” Dumbledore said. 

“Heh, yeah, and I’m the Queen’s crown,” The sorting hat said sarcastically, “I’ve seen her thoughts, and believe me. That little  _ prophecy _ of your’s. It couldn’t be more wrong.”

“Ergh…” Dumbledore groaned, “You are lucky you’re a priceless relic…” 

… 

“Lumos!” Harry said for the third time. The tip of his wand began to brightly glow, almost like a flashlight. Blaise soon repeated this, his wand glowing only slightly less.

The lighting spell was a simple charm, perfect for the first lesson of the first year. This lesson, of course, wasn’t being graded. But rather Prof. Flitwick, the half-goblin charm’s professor, was testing each student to get a feel for each of their magical capacities. Just a way to get a feel for what speed at which his students learned.

“Ah, yes, yes! Good work Mr. Potter and Mr. Zabini,” Prof. Flitwick said in praise, “Impressive lights for your first time, I must say. 2 points slytherin for each of you.”

The short man began to walk to the gryffindor students on the other side of the room.

“Lumos!” A bushy haired girl said, he wand glowing brightly as well. 

“Very good Ms. Granger,” He nodded, turning his attention to a certain redhead and the chubby boy beside him, “Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom, How’s your progress?”

“Lumos!” ‘Longbottom’ said, though his wand gave no real reaction.

Ron did the same of course, his wand gave a faint glow, but it wasn’t bright enough to be considered a success. 

“don’t fret, children. We are here to learn after all,” Flitwick gave a reassuring smile. 

The class proceeded for about ten minutes more of practicing the lighting charm. Some like Draco and Pansy were able to get it right immediately as well, while others like Daphne, Milicent Boldstrum, and a few gryffindors had a bit more difficulty. About five minute before the bell they were allowed to pack their things for the next class.

Given the opportunity, Harry decided this was the best possible time to talk to Ron, since they had their next class with Ravenclaws. 

“Hey, Ron!” He said walking up the redhead, Blaise trailed behind him.

“Ugh, what do you want?” Ron replied in an annoyed tone.

“Uh… I wanted to talk to you at breakfast, but you didn’t hear me,” Harry answered him, a little set back by his tone, “I just wanted to make sure we’re still good. You know, despite the whole ‘Slytherin’ thing.”

Blaise elbowed him in the arm. 

“Oh, and This is my housemate, Blaise. He’s been pretty nice to me, so maybe you’ll get along,” Harry added. 

“Pleasure to meet you,” Blaise nodded. 

“Wish I could say the same… oh wait, I don’t,” Ron said, getting up from his chair. 

“What?” Harry said in a bit of surprise. 

“Look, potter. They don’t put just anyone in Slytherin. Almost everyone who makes it into that house is some psychotic, soon to be Deatheater, or is already related to one!” Ron yelled. 

“That’s not true!” Blaise said in defense of his house, honestly offended by the redhead’s words, “Not all of us are that bad!” 

“Oh really, this from the spawn of the Black Widow?” Ron said, causing the slytherin boy to flinch. Blaise didn’t have a retort for that, “Yeah, That’s what I thought. Keep your slimy mit’s away from me.” 

With that, the bell rang and Ron left the classroom with the other Gryffindors. Leaving Harry and Blaise in disbelief. 

“I can’t believe I was almost friends with him…” Harry sighed, before turning to Blaise, “What… what did he mean by that?” 

“Nothing, it’s… let’s just head to our next class…” Blaise said quietly, before joining the rest of their group. 

Harry looked at his new friend inquisitively… he was hiding something. 

He shrugged it off for now. He’d best not bring it up just yet, might make him feel worse. So, he followed Blaise’s advice and headed to his next class… but he swore, before the day was done he’d ask one of the other students if they knew anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... Ron's gonna be a bit of an asshole here. Sorry for any Ron fans, but I really can't see a friendship between Slytherin Harry and Gryffindor Ron working out, at least not for First year. I actually, do have an idea that might salvage the friendship, but it wouldn't be implemented for a while... and even then there are factors I've yet to figure out if I do. So... needless to say, the Golden Trio isn't gonna happen in this AU... Especially with what I have planned in the future... 
> 
> But on a less depressing note, Yeah, for some reason I like the idea of the sorting hat taking jabs at how stupid Dumbledore can be amusing. And it makes sense that Slytherin would be the place he has the least power, given how most the slytherin students have at least one death eater relative, and he INVITED a death eater onto the grounds, who proceeded to Crucio one student and kill another, so... yeah...
> 
> Anywho, since I'm on the opposite of writers block at the moment, expect the next chapter: Prepping for Potions, sometime either tomorrow or the day after. Bye~!


	5. Prepping for Potions.

**Chapter 5: Prepping for Potions**

Harry let out a deep breath as he collapsed onto one of the Snake Pit’s couches. It had been an eventful first day for sure, he was pretty sure he’d never walked this much in his life! Most of his classes were in different areas of the castle, which made the fifteen minutes in between classes definitely necessary. The boy had gotten a pretty good idea how each of his classes was supposed to work. 

Transfiguration, taught by Professor Mcgonical, was essentially learning how to transform one object into another. Since the class was supposed to be quite difficult, the younger years mostly researched the topic, not actually performing the spells more than a few times a month. The main reason this was the policy was because one student a few decades ago got a little too cocky with his skills, and lost an arm as a result. 

Herbology with Prof. Sprout(haha, plants… sprout… funny!) seemed to be an easy, yet useful class. It was mostly learning about the different kinds of magical plants a wizard or witch would need for potions, medicine, or survival if necessary. It was in many ways similar to gardening, which Harry had been doing since he was five, thanks to his… guardians.

Lastly, was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was taught by Professor Quirrell. Harry had actually read half way through that class’s textbook before coming to Hogwarts. This class had the most defensive spells, and details about the many dangerous creatures a magic user might encounter. It was quite an interesting subject.

Unfortunately, Prof. Quirrell didn’t do the subject much justice. From what he’d heard, the cowardly professor was originally the Muggle studies professor, an elective for the upper years, and he had been given a promotion after the last DADA professor disappeared after mysterious circumstances. He honestly wasn’t sure why. The man couldn’t get two words in without stuttering like mad.

Regardless, after a long day of class, he was ready to kick back and relax for the day. 

“First years, come ‘ere!” He heard Merula announce at the edge of the room. 

Or not. He groaned as he got up and joined the other first years gather around a table where she and Mari were sat, the latter of whom had a thick book in her hands. 

“What’s this about?” Theo Nott(Harry finally got his name) asked. 

“Gather round first years, we’re doin’ a study group!” the scottish girl said. 

“For what?” Draco whined as he and his cronies sat down.

“You all have your first potions class on friday, correct?” Mari asked them, to which she received several nods, “Take it from me, you’ll want to have these.” 

She flicked her black wand at the book in her hands, causing a copy of it to appear in front of each of them. Harry was able to get a good look at the title, “ _ Proper Potion Preparation: Volume 1 _ .” 

“Why do we need these?” Draco asked with a scowl, “We already have potions textbooks.” 

“If you would let me explain, you’d know, Malfoy,” Mari said, looking him dead in the eyes, “You all met Professor Snape today, but there is one thing you need to know about him. He’s a textbook definition of a Slytherin.” 

Welp, that hooked em. None of the first years new what she meant, but they wanted to.

“With almost every other teacher, the lessons are fairly straightforward, not too hard to figure out,” Merula started, “But if you ever wanted to do good in Snape’s class, you’d need to really think outside the box.”

“It took us five years, several ravenclaws and a lot of story comparison to crack his methods,” Mari said, “Put simply, this guy is really good at covering his tracks.”

“Most the info’s useless ta us since we’re in our last year, so we figured we’d give it to the ones who really need it,” Merula said. 

“So… we’re doing potions early?” Tracey asked.

Merula grumbled at this, “No… Snape doesn’t let us bring potions stuff in ‘ere...”

“What we will be doing, is teaching you all the tricks he uses the most, which should help you all get a feel for how he actually runs his class,” Mari said, adjusting her glasses like an anime character, “A little heads up, in your first class, he will ask three seemingly random people, three seemingly random questions…” 

“Based on your wording, am I to believe there’s more to these questions than just that?” Theo asked. 

“Right on the money,” Mari nodded, “You see, if you only read your textbooks, there’s no way you’d actually get it right. Simply because, all the questions are in books the potions course doesn’t use…” 

“Like these,” Merula added.

“Wait, so there's a decent chance if we get called, we’ll look like idiots for not knowing something that isn’t going to be taught to us?” Blaise said in annoyance.

“Why on earth would Professor Snape do that?” Pansy asked. 

“To test you,” Merula said. 

“Based on our asking of multiple students who’ve been asked the questions, they always go on to either be the best, or the worst in the class. With a few exceptions of course,” The prefect added, “So, we figure Snape specifically gives them to those he thinks will exceed in his class, or those he has low expectations for…” 

“So, over the next three days, we’ll be going over the material ‘e’s likely to pull from and study it cover to cover,” The scottish girl said, “that way, he won’t be able to blindsight any of ye firsties.” 

So basically they were going to spend their free time studying… just great. To be honest, at the moment Harry would rather be doing something much more exciting. 

…

And exciting was what the Weasley twins were up to! 

“So, dear brother of mine, shall we?” Fred asked… or was it George?

“It’d be a crime to all we believe in if we don’t,” George(or Fred. Even I can’t tell) replied with a grin.

When the two third years were expressly told  _ Not _ to enter the room in the third corridor, they did what pretty much every professor  _ should _ have expected… They took it as a challenge.

“Hmm… Hardwood, reinforced with steel, impossible for blokes like us to break down…” George examined the door. 

“Hmm… indeed, you don’t think they’d be dumb enough to use a regular lock, do you?” Fred speculated. 

Both boys took out their wands, pointed at the knob and said, “Alohomora!” 

They hear a satisfying clicking sound from within the door. 

“Ha! You’ve lost your touch, old man!” Fred laughed, mocking the Headmaster’s feeble attempts to stop the Brother’s fun. 

“After you dear brother,” George said. 

“No, I insist, after you!” his twin replied.

“Both of us?” “Both of us.” the twins nodded, before pulling at the door revealing a dark room. Almost immediately, they heard a growling noise… well, more like three. Inside the room, a giant, three-headed dog was seated, baring its fangs! Just before it leaped at them, they shut the door. 

“Hmm…” Fred began to wonder, “Why would they bring a highly dangerous animal like a Cerberus into a school full of children…” 

“The only reason anyone gets a cerberus nowadays it to guard something,” His brother answered.

“Well, than, dear brother… I believe we’ve found our fall project this year,” The ginger grinned.

…

The first week had been passing by pretty fast. Between normal classes and Mari and Merula’s study group, Harry had felt he’d been taking in a lot of information. He of course realised that maybe studying ahead in his free time would be of benefit to him, besides, he was studying magic! How could that ever be boring…? 

Ok, well there was one class that he couldn’t stand, history of Magic. He had originally thought Barnaby was joking when he’d said the Prof. Binns was so boring, he bored himself to death, but no. It was completely serious. The undead professor just went on and on about the goblin wars in constant monotone, it was like a white noise machine, and twice as effective at putting people to sleep!

But aside from that, his first week had so far been the most interesting week of his life! 

Of course there was still one hiccup… the stairs. Every night Harry had attempted to get up the stairs that seemed so determined to keep him down, and every night he wound up on the stone floor and was sent to bed in his temporary room with an ice pack. It was beyond frustrating! Why wouldn’t the stairs let him up? Did they think he was a girl or something? No… that couldn’t be it. Sure, he admitted he was likely a bit more feminine than other boys, but he still clearly was one! You could tell just by looking!

What was weirder was the odd look he got from Mari every time he tried. Barnaby said she had a theory she was working on, yet she never really seemed to be doing anything about it. If anything it just seemed like she’d been watching him a lot more each time he tried. It was weird. 

Especially on Friday morning when Mari said she’d be the one bringing the first years to breakfast instead of Barnaby(who she had apparently convinced to give the morning report to Snape). 

At the moment, they were simply waiting for the girls to finish up their morning routines before heading out. 

“Potter,” The prefect said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” 

“Um… sure..” Harry replied, following her into the hallway that led to the Prefects’ rooms. He was unsure what she wanted to talk about. It wasn’t like he’d broken any rules since he got here. Maybe she’d finally gotten a breakthrough on the stairs!

When she made sure no one was listening in, she asked, “Is there anything… you’d like to talk to me about?” 

“Um… no, what do you mean?” Harry was a little confused with the question. 

“Your classmates have been sharing their… concerns,” Mari said, “I knew there was something about you the first day but… you haven’t been eating proper amounts for someone your age, you seem to lack a lot of the knowledge most kids with wizarding relatives have, and I heard from Davis you said you live with people who don’t like magic…” 

“Um…” Harry was at a loss for words. He really didn’t anticipate any of his classmates reporting his odd behavior. Honestly, he’d gotten pretty used to the idea that no one cared about him. Even when he did tell people, they almost never believed him… after all, he was just some delinquent orphan… or thats what his ‘Perfect’ relatives always said. 

“I’m not trying to pry, but I need you to know I can’t help you if you don't let me know,” Mari put a hand on her shoulder, “Please kid, if there's anything going on at home, please tell me.” 

“I… they… They hate me…” He choked out, “They’ve… they’ve always hated me. They’ve never liked that I was different… they’ve never liked that I was magic… they don’t even treat me like a person…” 

The prefect groaned, she knew it. She honestly didn’t get why muggles were still allowed to raise magic children on their own. After all, her own parents were pretty distant with her and her older brother, only really paying attention to her non-magic little siblings, but at least they didn’t starve her. She didn’t need Harry to tell her his fami- no. Not family, relatives. She didn’t need to be told his relatives didn’t feed him right, the fact he was much skinnier and smaller than a normal kid his age was evident enough.

“I appreciate your concern but…” Harry said with a sigh, “It won’t help. You aren’t the first person I’ve told… and none of the others helped either…” 

“Nobody listens to kids…” Mari groaned, “Come on. Let’s head to breakfast. I’ll inform Professor Snape what’s been happening. If we’re lucky, you shouldn’t ever have to go back there…” 

“I’m never that lucky…” Harry sighed. 

“Hey,” his upper year said, looking him straight in the eyes, “Just cause it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t. That’s why you always have to try.” 

Harry looked into her chocolate-colored eyes. There was no deceit or dishonesty in them, she genuinely wanted to help him. 

“T-thankyou,” he said. 

“Don’t mention it… what kinda person would I be if I just stood by and did nothing,” Mari gave him a reassuring smile, “Things are going to get better.” 

Those words made a small smile come to his face. He’d told himself that countless times over the years...but to be honest, this was probably the first time since he’d met Hagrid that he genuinely belived it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slytherins are observant. Of course, they weren't going to ignore all the things about Harry that were HUGE red flags (except maybe Draco.) So, what do we think is a fitting punishment when an investigation proves everything she told Mari true? Azkaban, anyone?
> 
> As for the idea with the Weasley twins... of course, they'd take it as a challenge! What were you thinking Dumbles!!
> 
> Anywho, I'll be working on the next chapter: Brooms, Boils, and a Boarhound soon, so stay tuned!


	6. Brooms, Boils and Boarhounds

**Chapter 6: brooms, boils and a boarhound**

After their talk, Mari and Harry rejoined the group of first years. Soon after, the girls finally arrived so the group could depart. 

“What took you so long, anyway?” Draco sneered at the girls as they arrived. 

“ _ Some  _ of us put actual work into our appearances, malfoy,” Daphne replied, “Not everyone can just gel our hair down and call it a day.” 

The blond’s cronies laughed a bit before he glared at them to stop.

“I mean, it does make sense,” Harry said, getting a few odd looks from the other boys, “like… It takes me hours just to get my hair nice, of course for the girls to come down looking like they do it’d take a bit of effort. Beauty is a skill.” 

To be honest, he hated quoting his aunt Petunia, but he didn’t exactly disagree with it. 

“Glad to see at least  _ one  _ of the boys understands how much effort we put into our routine,” Pansy grinned.

“Uh.. yeah. I get it…” Harry said with a bit of a blush. He didn’t realize Blaise was grinning at his reaction, a delightful little idea popping into the boy’s head.

“Regardless…” Mari said, “who wants breakfast?” 

With that the group departed for the great hall. Once again, cut off by the Hufflepuff group just before leaving the dungeons. Evidently today Tonks felt like having blue skin which was… odd. To each their own, Harry supposed. After all, the day before Merula commented about them once spending an entire day as a centaur, much to the faculties ire. 

As they kept walking, Blaise subtly pulled Harry to the back, just out of whispering range of a certain black haired girl.

“So… Pansy…?” He asked, not really even a question.

“What about her?” Harry replied with a bit of a blush. 

“That. Everytime she says something to you you’re suddenly red as a tomato,” Blaise chuckled, “looks to me like somebody’s got a crush…”

“What?!” Harry tried to keep his voice down, “N-No! I mean, we’re barely even friends. We’re just classmates.” 

“You can’t lie to me, Harry,” the other slytherin grinned, “You’ve got that lover boy look in your eyes.”

“No I don’t!” Harry said, trying to walk away from his friend.

“You can’t run from your feelings!” Blaise laughed at his friend's embarrassment. He swore to himself he was going to get those two together.

...

Soon after entering the hall, both the breakfast and mail arrived. As usual, Harry’s classmates got a few things such as letters from home, a few gifts and all the usual things. What surprised him was when Hedwig flew down to the table, a letter in her beak. 

“Whatcha got there, girl?” Harry asked, taking the note. 

As soon as he did, the snowy owl swiped a few pieces of bacon from Draco’s plate and flew off. 

“HEY!” The blond sneered as Hedwig flew out the window. More than a few slytherins giggled at him. 

Harry opened the letter, revealing the messy handwriting that read, “ _ Dear Harry, would ya like to come by the shack for tea this afternoon after classes? Been meaning to talk to you. Hagrid. _ ” 

Hagrid… Harry had nearly forgotten about the half giant. The man was so busy working as the groundskeeper of Hogwarts, that the boy hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him since the sorting ceremony. Honestly he was a little terrified. 

From their conversation in the Leaky Cauldron back in diagon alley, it was pretty clear the Half-giant wasn’t very fond of slytherins. Thus Harry had no real idea what his reaction would be. 

“Whatcha get?” Blaise asked.

“Oh… Hagrid’s invited me to tea after classes…” Harry replied, “You.. want to come?” 

“Sure, I’ve never met a half-giant before…” Blaise replied… before getting the best idea he’d had all month, “Hey, Pansy!” 

Harry didn’t have anytime to react before the girl looked up from her magazine, “Yes?” 

“Harry and I are going down to the ground keeper's cabin after classes, you want to join?” Blaise asked, “I’m always seeing you looking at his dog…” 

“I’ve been trying to figure out what bread it is,” the young witch replied, setting her magazine aside, “I have a suspicion it’s a hell hound, but I’m not quite sure yet. I would love to get a closer look at it.”

“I… didn’t take you for a dog lover,” Harry said, his blush returning. 

“I’ve always had an interest in canines, I asked for many a dog as a pet, but my mum’s never been a fan of them…” Pansy replied with a slight pout.

“Well then, I think it’s settled,” Blaise grinned triumphantly, glad to see his plan working, “We’ll meet in the courtyard just after classes?” 

“Yes, that sounds fine,” Pansy nodded, returning to her magazine. 

The young wizard was all too proud of himself, he turned to his friend a mouthed, “You’re welcome.”

Harry could only groan in response.

…

Flying was going to take some getting used to, Harry decided as he queezily made his way to the potions lab. He’d never really flown before(not in a plane, and definitely not a broom), combine that with his admittedly poor health, and it was pretty predictable he’d get airsick almost immediately. 

He could control his broom easily, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he couldn’t keep his breakfast down soon after taking off. 

Thankfully, he took comfort in knowing that he wasn’t the only one having trouble keeping airborne. A couple of the gryffindors he shared the class with had trouble getting into the air at all. Granger and Longbottom, he remembered them from charms. Sure he hadn’t gotten their first names yet, but they at the very least seemed to be a bit more… aware than most of their house. And definitely a lot quieter. 

Unfortunately he didn’t get the chance to talk to either of them when a threeway fist fight broke out between Draco, Ron, and somehow a ravenclaw by the name of Terry Boot. When the flight instructor, Madam Hooch, finally broke them up she proceeded to spend the rest of the period lectoring us on mutual respect and why a flying broom is not a weapon.

Ultimately it spoiled the class for everyone. 

So now came the class he’d been preparing for three days in advance, Potions. Pretty much all the slytherins were nervous about spending an entire class period with their head of house. Except Draco, who had a black eye from the fight and a cocky grin on his face for some reason. 

The class entered the cold room in the dungeons, assaulted by the many chemical smells of the room. Everyone took their seats, gryffs on one half of the room, Slytherins on the other. Looking around, Harry saw the various potion ingredients around the room. He took a deep breath, hoping the study group would prove to be effective. 

After everyone had taken their seat, a door opened revealing Professor Snape, he announced in a low, uninterested voice, “Welcome to potions class…” 

He silently stepped to a chalk board and quickly wrote down instructions. When he finished, he turned to the class. 

“Most of you will no doubt be unappreciative of the subtle are and exact science that is potion making… afterall, with the lack of foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class, you might not even consider it magic,” He droned on in monotone. However, his droning was much different from that of Prof. Binns. It was frigid, cold, with an unseen passion that held his class’s attention. The fact a living person could be more frightening than a literal ghost was impressive in it of itself, “But for those of those select few… who have the predisposition… I can teach you to bewitch the mind, and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper to death…” 

His gaze suddenly turned toward Harry, in a way not unlike a predator would glare at its prey. 

“Potter!” He yelled, before returning to his normal tone “ Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Harry racked his brain, he’d read something on that for sure… after a few seconds of silent thinking, he remembered, “Draught of the Living dead sir… at least I think.” 

A surprised look came over Snape’s face, before returning to it’s usual mask, he nodded, “Correct. Now, where would one find a bezoar?” 

“The stomach of a goat, sir…” Harry replied, now mentally thanking his upperclassmen for the heads up, “It’s used as an antidote for most poisons.” 

“Hmm, good to see being a celebrity hasn’t prevented you from actually studying, Potter,” Snape nodded, before turning away, “Two points to slytherin for ever correct answer.” 

He walked over to a table where Ron and the Longbottom boy were seated.

“Weasley, what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?” The professor asked. 

Nervously, Ron choked out, “I-I don’t know, sir.” 

At that moment, Granger’s hand shot up. Clearly  _ she  _ did, however the professor ignored this. 

“A pitty… Longbottom, same question,” The man said. 

The chubby boy had similar nervousness as he spoke, “T-there isn’t one. It’s the same plant sir, it’s also called Aconite… sir.” 

“Correct. 2 point’s gryffindor,” Snape turned away, beginning to walk back to the front of the room, however stopping to say, “Put your hand down, Granger. If you want to show off, make an above average potion.”

Embarrassed, the gryffindor girl put her hand down. The pale man walked back to the front of the room and faced the class. 

“Today, you will attempt to brew a simple cure for boils. The instructions are on the board, or page 6 of your text books if you prefer…” Snape announced, “After your potion is completed, you and your partner will bottle it, label it with your signatures for my review later. Completion of this potion will count towards your participation for this class. Begin.” 

With that, everyone began to scramble to work. 

“Ignore the book, use the board,” Blaise said to Harry as he began prepping his cauldron. 

According to their study group, Snape always put up an alternate version of the recipe on the board. Most didn’t know this, but the version on the board always produced better results. Mari and Merula were only able to tell because they had compared the board recipes to the book ones multiple times with a hufflepuff student. The results spoke for themselves.

Honestly, potion making was a simple process once you had the ingredients and the right recipe. Harry found it similar to cooking. The class went by pretty fast, Harry and Blaise being among the first to complete it, soon followed by Pansy and Theo, Granger’s group, and Draco and Goyle. 

Just as they’d bottled their potion, Harry heard a loud, “ _ BANG! _ ” 

He and the rest of the class turned to the other end of the room to see that Ron’s cauldron had exploded and Longbottom was on the floor, holding his arm. 

“WEASLEY!” The professor yelled, causing the redhead to go pale, “clearly like your brothers you’re incapable of properly following directions!”

He examined the cauldrons remains, picking up a faint but distinct smell.

“You added the baking powder while it was still on the burner? That makes this concoction highly unstable and explosive, which you would have known if you read the instructions!” Snape was furious, “10 points from Gryffindor, and you will spend the afternoon cleaning every single cauldron in this room!” 

“Y-yes sir, sorry sir,” Ron muttered. 

Snape quickly examined Longbottom’s arms. Covered in burns and boils from the potion backfiring. He quickly glanced around the room seeing who wasn’t currently attending to a potion “Potter, Zabini. Escort longbottom to the Hospital wing!” 

“Yes, sir!” The two eeped in unison, rushing over to the fallen gryffindor. The two helped him to his feat and started walking him out of the room. 

“You are just having the worst luck, mate,” Harry said. 

“I know…” The boy replied quietly.

“So… you got a name, or is it just Longbottom?” Blaise asked, only half joking. 

“It’s Neville,” He sighed, “Sorry to trouble you… I tried to tell him not to do it but…” 

“You’re kinda a pushover?” Harry finished his thought. 

“Yeah.. I mean, I know what i’m supposed to do, I just get so nervous and then it…” He looked at his arms, “Blows up in my face… literally.”

“Well, I think I know half your problem,” Blaise said, “it’s like you have no pride… kinda weird for a Gryffindor.”

“Heh, Don’t I know it. I asked to be put in Hufflepuff… figured someone as useless as me would fit in there,” Neville chuckled a little. 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I asked to be put anywhere  _ but _ slytherin, look how that turned out,” Harry said. 

“Guess we’re in the same boat then?” Neville asked. 

“Guess you could say that,” Harry smiled at him just before they made it to the hospital wing, “You think you’re good from here?” 

“Yeah.. even I can walk into a room,” Neville chuckled, “Seeya around, guys.” 

“Seeya!” Blaise said as he entered the room, “I like him.” 

“He seems pleasant enough,” Harry nodded, “come on, let’s get back.” 

…

The rest of the class period went by pretty smoothly. As well as the other classes that day. Finally, the afternoon came. 

“I still can’t believe you invited Pansy along,” Harry grumbled, “I’m telling you, I don’t have a crush on her!” 

“Sure, you keep saying that,” Blaise snickered, “Relax, Harry, you’ll thank me when I’m the best man at your wedding.” 

“Yeah right,” Harry said, “You act as if I’d invite you after this stunt.” 

“Why are you talking about weddings?” Pansy asked, popping from seemingly nowhere. 

“Ah!” Harry jumped, starting to blush, “How much did you here?” 

“Heh, you scream like a girl!” The girl giggled, “I barely heard anything, just something about Blaise being at your wedding. Why, what’d ya say?” 

“ _ Damn it she has a cute laugh! _ ” Harry mentally screamed, his blush intensify, “Nothing, nothing… let’s just go see Hagrid…” 

“Lead the way!” Blaise playfully laughed at his friend’s discomfort. 

The three slytherins made their way to the edge of the castle grounds. Just on the edge of the forest, tucked between a few trees and a pumpkin patch, was Hagrid’s hut. An honestly small home, even smaller when you considered the man’s large size… did he really live in this? 

Harry came up to the front door and gave a knock. Soon after, he heared the sound of barking, causing him to back from the door a bit. 

“ _ ‘Ey, ‘ey, Quiet down, Fang! _ ” A loud voice came from inside the house(if it could really be called that). Soon afterward, the door was opened by a large, giant of a man. He was atleast 10 feet tall, with a thick, stocker build and even thicker beard, “‘Arry! Come in, come in! I just got tea off the stove.” 

Harry grinned at the half giant, “Glad you’ll have me. I-uh, brought a few friends.” 

“Heh, That ye did! Come on in, any friend a ‘Arry’s is a friend a mine,” Hagrid said, ushering them in. 

“Thankyou for having us, Mr. Hagrid,” Pansy said politely as she entered the small home behind the boys, “I’ve been quite curious about your dog. Is he really a hellhound?’ 

“Just ‘Agrid’ll do, lass, Mr. ‘Agrid was me father,” Hagrid said with a laugh, “And yes. Fang does have a bit a ‘ell ‘ound in em, but ‘e’s mostly boarhound.” 

Seated on the couch was a large, grey dog, looking at them with a bit of caution.

“Well, I think he’s adorable regardless,” Pansy said bring her hand close to the mutt. He sniffed at it for a bit, before seeming to ease. The young witch scratched him behind the ears, “So cute.” 

“Yeah, ‘e acts all tough but ‘e’s really a big softy,” Hagrid smiled as he set some… odd looking treats on his coffee table. Blaise was the first one to take one, probably not wanting to look rude. 

“So… you don’t mind it… That I’m in slytherin, I mean,” Harry asked the half-giant.

“Wut? Oh, yer talking about what I said in diagon alley, aren’t ye?” Hagrid said in realization, “Don’t worry, ‘Arry. I was surprised more than anything. Just sort of thought you’d be a Gryff like yer parents. No need to get caught up on what I said.”

“Good,” Harry felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest, “After Ron didn’t take it too well, I thought you’d be a little mad as well.” 

“Nah! Sure, they’ve had a few bad eggs, but Slytherin’s just like every other ‘ouse where it counts,” Hagrid said, “Honestly, I can only really say I know  _ one  _ Slytherin who isn’t that good of a person.”

“Really? Who’s that?” Blaise asked.

“Tom Riddle,” Hagrid said simply, “The bloke acted all, ‘Mr. Nice guy,’ but ‘e ruined me bloody life.”

“What?” Harry said, honestly shocked. He’d only known Hagrid a short time, but he’d been one of the nicest people he’d ever met! Who’d want to ruin his life, “What happened?” 

“Eh, I wouldn’t wanna bore you with the details…” the half-giant shrugged the idea off.

“Really? They make us spend an hour with a ghost who won’t stop droning on about the goblin wars and you’re worried you’ll bore us?” Pansy said whilst petting fang. 

Hagrid let out a laugh, “Fair enough, lass. Alright, kids. Pull up a seat. Me memories a bit rusty, but I’ll try me best ta remember the details… 

_ It was me third year in ‘Ogwarts. And I ‘ad been taking care of a very rare creature. An Acromantual. A species of spider that could grow to the size of a person, and even speak perfect English!  _

_ Wild Acromantual’s can be very deadly when full grown, but this lil guy, Aragog I called em, was just a ‘Atchling, and an injured one at that. So, I took it upon me self to nurse em back to ‘ealth. Everything was running fine, not a soul knew I ‘ad em. Until finally, the worst thing ‘append.  _

_ They found a body in the girls’ loo. Poor, Myrtle. A ravenclaw girl a few years ahead a me… They couldn’t tell what killed ‘er. Not a sign of a curse, nor a mark of an attack. ‘Er death was a mystery.  _

_ After a while, with no real evidence a who the killer was, Tom Rddle came to me. ‘E said ‘e knew about Aragog, said ‘e must’a been what done Myrtle in. _

_ ‘Impossible!’ I told em, ‘Aragog never ‘urt nobody!’  _

_ But… ‘e didn’t listen. ‘E tride ta kill the little guy, but ‘e was too quick on ‘is legs. Escaped inta the forrest. Unfortunately, once the ministry knew I ‘ad em…  _

..Well, needless to say I was expelled,” Hagrid sighed, “Me wand was snapped within the week, thankfully, Professor Dumbledore, only a teacher back then, was able to convince the ‘eadmaster to let me shadow the groundskeeper. Been workin’ ‘ere ever since.” 

“That’s awful..” Blaise said taking a bite from the weird treats they’d been given.

“And impossible…” Pansy said, an annoyed tone in her voice, “Baby acromantial’s venom isn’t deadly, it just knocks you out and causes some side effects. Only the adults can kill.” 

“That’s what I said!” Hagrid agreed, “Bloody ‘ell, even Myrtle agrees with me! She said it ‘erself, she never saw no spider when she died.” 

“Wait… you’ve talked to her?” Harry asked, kind of intriged. 

“Aye. ‘Er ghost still ‘angs around the bathroom where she died. She’s tried to clear my name, but no one ever listens…” Hagrid explained with a sad look, “Sorry… I shouldn’t a dumped that on you lot.” 

“Don’t be… You have a right to be angry about something like that,” Harrry said.

“Don’t I know it….” The half giant said, “By far the oddest thing, was the fact that it Tom who ratted me out. The bloke may a been a ‘Alf Blood. But ‘e never liked muggle borns… Yet when Myrtle, a muggleborn ‘e barely even knew, suddenly died. ‘E acted like I’d killed ‘is sister or something!”

“You don’t think it was him, do you?” Harry asked. 

“I dunno,” Hagrid said, “I knew he knew something about it, but was never able to get em investigated. ‘E graduated next year, never saw em again.”

“There’s still one thing that doesn’t make sense to me…” Pansy stated, “You said you’ve been working at the school since that day… didn’t you ever finish school?” 

“No. No, I didn’t.” Hagrid answered, “I began shadowing the groundskeeper almost immeditately. I mean, after I was expelled I didn’t have much options… I was lucky Dumbledore got me the job.”

“Yes you did… Even if you couldn’t go back to Hogwarts, there should have been a number of other options, or at the very least homeschooling, for you to finish your education,” Pansy said, honestly not believing what she was hearing, “Didn’t Prof. Dumbledore tell you that when he offered the job?” 

Hagrid was about to retort, but he stopped to think before he even got a word out, “... No ‘e did not… ” 

A bit of awkward air filled the room. No one was exactly sure what to say for the moment. The only real noise was Blaise’s crunching.

“Well… ‘ow bout we move onta other topics,” Hagrid finally broke the silence, “So… how you been enjoying ‘ogwarts?” 

Harry smiled, “It’s great!” 

… 

Severus Snape, was rarely surprised. That was simply a fact, he’d spent so much of his life preparing for the worst that when it finally came he met it with indifference. And that was if he didn’t see the signs of it coming long before it arrived, in which by the time it finally happened, he’d already had several plans to deal with it.

That being said, he was only human. Even he had his blindspots. 

One of these blindspots, had to have been Harry James Potter.

Snape was fully prepared to hate this child, for a number of reasons. For one, this was the child of his worst enemy, James Potter, and the love of his life, Lily evans. Obviously he hated James for getting Lily’s heart first, but there was more to their bitter rivalry than that. 

One could say these two were the embodiments of their houses. Severus was cunning, Ambitious and resourceful, a true Slytherin. While James was proud, unafraid, and ready to throw himself at the first idea he had and never look back, a true Gryffindor. The two were known to butt heads countless times in their school years, and even on opposite sides of the wizarding war.

It was for that, and the stories he’d heard about Harry’s upbringing, that lead him to believe the boy would be nothing more than a copy of his father. A spoiled, arrogant little brat that believed everything would come easy to him because he was “ _ The boy who lived. _ ”

But, blindspots. The Harry Potter that arrived in hogwarts was nothing like Severus had expected. For one, he was smaller, thinner. Almost as if he wasn’t eating. 

Next, this child was placed in Slytherin.  _ That _ caught Snape by surprise. The son of James Potter, the most Gryffindor person the potionmaster had ever met, was a Slytherin! Of course, no one had seen this coming, but Snape had definitly been expecting this the least. 

He had quietly begun observing the boy, searching for any traits of his arrogant father in him.

To be blunt, that was also a surprise. The boy he saw was humble, polite, seemed to have a few self esteem issues, was mostly quiet around adults, or when other’s were talking. It couldn’t be farther from the man that caused Severus such ire. 

Than the final surprise came in Slytherin’s first potion’s class. Severus had decided to try one little test for the boy. To see whether or not fame had gone to his head or not. The man was quite use to asking the student he had low expectations for questions they, by all means, likely wouldn’t know. But it was very rare he asked a single person all three of them.

Of course, he never would have guessed that Harry would answer questions meant for third years at least, correctly. The boy even proved he knew the material by answering a question Severus didn’t ask. Thus, the man shifted the final question onto someone he felt was… less likely to be as prepared. 

Then, after he had gone through and graded the potions from today. What he noticed was that the vile marked ‘Potter and Zabini,’ Was among the best in the class. Tied with Granger’s and just slightly worse than Malfoy and Goyle’s. 

Not only did Harry seem unlike his father, he’d apparently inherited his mother’s apptitude for potions. 

As Severus sat at his desk, all he could think was that maybe he’d been too quick to judge the boy. Afterall, even if he was James’ son. He was also Lily’s… He took a sip of his fire whisky. It was at this point he dicided, he was no longer going to judge the child on his father’s actions. He wasn’t about to spoil the brat, but he was at least going to be civil with him… that, he thought he could manage. 

“Sir,” he heard Spade’s voice at the door, along with a knocking sound. He’d been expecting this, she’d requested to see him when he had a free moment sometime this morning. 

“Come in,” He said in his usual low tone. The prefect girl entered the room and sat down, “Have you come with more information about the particular student’s issues, or is this an unrelated matter?”

“The former, sir,” she replied, “I’ve been getting reports from their classmates about concerning habits they have, as well as a few things about them that don’t make sense unless you consider specific context. I confronted them this morning and-” 

“You believe this child is an abuse victim?” Snape sighed as he finished her thought. 

“I don’t  _ believe  _ so, sir. They outright confirmed it…” Mari sighed, “And from what they said… it’s bad.” 

Severus sighed, “You were right to bring this to my attention. Tell me which student is facing these issues and we will begin to sort things out.” 

“Sir, I can already tell you aren’t going to like what I’m about to say,” The prefect warned. 

“Try me,” Was all he replied with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that was longer than I anticipated.
> 
> I'm not sure why I made Blaise such a shipper but... I kinda love it. I mean, just imagine if every pairing in this fic is the result of this kid playing matchmaker!
> 
> I've always found it kind of dumb that the entire time Moaning Myrtle was a ghost, she never told ANYONE how she died. Especially given the fact someone almost went to prison with soul-sucking demons over it!
> 
> Anywho, the Next chapter is gonna be, "The true test," so stay tuned for that!


	7. The True test.

**Chapter 7: the true test**

  
  


Awe, the weekend, even the hogwarts students love it. A time to unwind and settle down. To do absolutely nothing… except the Weasley twins. They were far too busy to relax at the moment. 

Over the past few days, the boys had been attempting to find a way to get past the cerberus guarding the third hall corridor. They weren’t exactly worried about someone noticing them. These two had been at it far to long to try and get in during broad daylight without  _ something _ keeping the staff distracted. 

So, they decided to give Hogwarts’ resident Poltergeist, Peeves, a few of their custom made fireworks(don’t ask how two thirteen year-olds learned to make fireworks, its a long story). Needless to say, any of the staff that would be coming around this area and possibly catch them, were currently on the other side of the castle trying to stop a pyromaniac spirit from burning down the castle, the perfect distraction. 

“Well, My dear brother, I do believe we’ve run out of defensive spells,” Fred said as their knockout charm failed to affect the large canine. 

“That we have. Shall we make our exit?” George replied, far too calm for his current situation.

“Yes, that would seem to be our best options,” his brother replied, before both nonchalantly left the room, just before the beast could bite at them. They shut the door and relocked it, “I think we’re going to reassess our situation.”

“True, true. None of the spells had any affect,” George said, putting a hand to his chin. 

“We could ask Prof. Kettleburn… no. it’d be too suspicious…” Fred shook his head.

“Too suspicious indeed…” George agreed, “If only there were someone who knew a lot about magical creatures, but wasn’t involved in the school staff…” 

“Hmm… I believe one of our brother’s knows such a person!” Fred suggested. 

“Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” His brother gained a sly grin.

“Indubitely,” the other ginger grinned as well.

… 

Harry was having a pleasant day. With all his homework done, and nothing else much better to do. He’d decided to simply look around the castle, getting a feel for his surroundings. 

One of the things he most definitely noticed was just how many unused classroom’s the castle had. This place was honestly a maze! 

“Let’s see here, which one should I try next…” The boy asked himself as he looked among the nearby doors, “ Eenie, meanie, minie-” “Merow!” 

His attention was suddenly grabbed by the sound of a cat. He turned around, and sure enough there was a little black and white cat behind him. A blue collar around its neck. 

“Well, hello there, puss… What are you doing out here?” He asked, crouching down to meat the cat at eye level. He knew it was likely someone’s pet, cats were some of the only pets allowed in the school. He noticed a peculiar thing about it’s collar tag. It looked exactly like a slytherin prefect badge. 

Just after that, the cat somehow shifted into Mari, causing Harry to take a step back in shock. 

“Looking for you, of course,” The former cat replied with a grin. 

“How… how did you…” Harry was at a loss for words. 

“I’m an Animagus,” Mari chuckled, “We can shapeshift into a certain animal anytime we wish, makes it super easy to sneak from place to place…” 

“Wicked…” Harry said. If he remembered correctly he saw Prof. Mcgonical do something similar on the first day, “Wait, why were you looking for me?” 

“I need to test something… it’s about the stairs,” The prefect said, motioning for him to follow. Harry obliged, though still curious about the girls cat form.

“So… how are you like that? An animagus I mean,” He asked her with wide eyes.

“Well, it was a long and complicated process…” Mari replied, “you gotta brew a specific potion and drink it at  _ just _ the right time for it to work…”

“You think I could do it?” He asked her again. 

“Heh, maybe. Though… I’d probably wait until at least third year. The potion is way too complicated for an eleven year old,” Mari joked. 

“I see… so, can you turn into other animals?” Harry asked once more, trying not to sound too pushy. 

“Nah. Every Animagus can only turn into one animal. Whatever animal it is, it’s usually a reflection of their personality when they drank the potion,” the older girl explained, “Back when I took it, I was pretty scatterbrained and never listened to anyone… which translates to house cat I guess…”

Harry laughed at that. Mostly because of the implication that if those traits were what causes a cat animal form, that the ever calm and stern Professor McGonagall was a similar way whenever she attained the form.

“Hmm… I wonder what’d I be like…” Harry began to think about it. He wasn’t honestly sure what kind of animal he was like. Although, if he had to hope for one, he hoped it’d be one with wings. He may not be able to handle broom’s very well… but he’d always wondered what it’d be like to fly like a bird… away from all the troubles of the world. 

After that, he was lost in thought for a moment, before he realised they’d made it to the common room.

“Ouroboros,” Mari recited the password, causing the door to open. She and her under year entered the Snake Pit. 

Only a few students were actually in the common room. A number of the upper years were at Quidditch tryouts, attempting to win the best positions. While some of the younger years were either studying ahead(Mostly Theo) or getting some fresh air. The only first year in the room, apart from Harry, was Milicent Budstrum, who was reading a book on the couch. 

Mari guestered the boy to come to the dorms, which he followed her into. 

“Alright, Let’s cut to the chase. This week is prefect tests, so we need you out of the spare room by Friday,” Mari said, “I’ve had a theory for why you can’t go up the boy’s stairs… so, we’re going to test it. If I’m right, we can get this sorted out soon. If not… well, we’re back to square one.”

“Alright, what do you want me to do?” Harry asked. 

“Firstly… I want you to test with the boy’s stairs one last time…” The prefect said. 

Harry nodded as he braced himself for another fall. Just like every time before, he walked up the first few steps. Around the fourth step, they gave out and became a slide causing him to fall backwards yet again. This time however, Mari caught him before he hit the ground.

“Have a nice trip?” She chuckled, as she set him upright “alright, so we know this one still isn’t working.”

“So now what?” The boy asked. 

“Now, we try the other stairs,” Mari stated, pointing to the second flight. 

Harry looked at her, “You want me to go up the girl stairs?” 

“That’s what said, yes,” She nodded. 

“Won’t I just fall again?” Harry asked, remembering that the wards were gender specific. 

“That’s what I want to find out,” The animagus replied, “Go on.”

Harry sighed, but walked over to the stairs anyway. He could already see where this was going. Surely the stairs would collapse again and he’d fall down. He gave a groan as he took a step up the stone steps. He didn’t feel the steps fall, however… 

He looked back at Mari, who motioned him to keep going. He took a deep breath, and continued to ascend. He reached the fourth step once again… they were still solid. He kept going, honestly a bit confused that he was able to make it this far. Eventually, he came to the twentieth step, to the right of it was a door with a silver label; First year: Girls. 

“Well… now we know…” Mari said, coming up the stairs beneath hi-... them. She walked up to them and said, “You’re… likely a little confused… Let’s talk about his in private.” 

Harry nodded as she passed them and opened the door. Once again, they followed her inside. They looked in bewilderment at the inside of the room. It was similar to the prefect room they’d been using but bigger and… cozier. 

There were five, smaller four poster beds, each bearing the slytherin colors. A two of them had very messy covers, likely belonging to Tracey and Milicent, while the other three had neat ones, hard to tell anyone had even used them. Beside each of the beds were trunks, nightstands, and a few personal items… all except one. The one furthest from the window, right next to the window, was completely bare. 

Almost on instinct, Harry walked over to the bare bed, sitting down on it. There was only one question on their mind, “Mari… how can I come in here? The wards.. They’re supposed to keep boys out right? And Im…” 

They paused. For some reason… they didn’t feel comfortable finishing the thought. 

“Harry… sometimes, it isn’t that simple,” Mari said, meeting them at eye level, “Everyone wants to put people into these little boxes, but… there’s always those people who aren’t that easy to sort… Harry, do you know what transgender means?” 

They shook their head, they’d no idea what the term meant. 

“Well… sometimes a person will spend all their life thinking they’re a different gender. They’ll think just because they were born a boy or a girl, that’s what they are…” Mari continued to explain, “But somehow… they just know it isn’t true. Sometimes they know it from the start, others, it takes them a while to figure it out.. But all the same, they come to find who they are… isn’t what people thought.” 

“Are you saying…” Harry started.

“Just cause you were born a boy… it doesn’t mean you can’t be a girl, if that’s what truly wanted,” Mari finished. 

Harry thought it over… could… could it really be like that? Almost everything they’d been taught told them that you were what you were, and nothing could change that… Especially the dursleys. All they’d ever told them was… they’d never be anything more than a freak. An ungrateful little brat they gave a roof and clothes to, when they could have easily just dropped them off at an orphanage… Their entire life… that’s all they’d heard. 

“So… if I really wanted to…” Harry didn’t finish, “But… I like girls. Like… Like-like…” 

“So? I like both,” Mari chuckled, “Love’s love, Harry. Just because you like girls doesn’t mean you can’t be one… Harry. I can tell you from experience, the wards wouldn’t have let you up if you didn’t on some level, maybe even subconsciously, believe you were a girl.” 

Harry wanted to retort but… she couldn’t. The more she thought about it… it all made sense. While the stairs had probably been the most recent clue… there were always those moments… little bits of her past where she didn’t always make sense… Suddenly… they were starting to.

“I… I can’t believe it…” She finally sighed, “I mean… I was always a bit more femmine than most boys but…” 

“Yeah… it’s pretty surreal when you finally figure it out…” Mari replied.

“Wait…” Harry suddenly realised, “you don’t mean…” 

“Yeah… Figured it out half way into my second year,” Mari replied, a nostalgic smile on her face, “My parents never really approved, but I guess it made sense. Muggles are always so concerned with gender roles. After I told Professor Snape, he told me that I wasn’t the first witch who didn’t feel comfortable being a boy. Matter of fact, Hogwarts gets at least one transgender student every few years.”

“So… I’m not as weird as I thought…” Harry let a small smile creep onto her face.

“Everyone’s a little weird kid…” Mari laughed, “But to be honest, that’s ok… it’s those little odd things about everyone that keep things interesting, make life worth living… if we just ignored every single thing that made us weird… how would we be able to tell what made us special?”

Harry’s smile widened, She couldn’t agree more. The Dursleys had always thought normalcy was something to strive for, and had tried to force it down her throat as well… She wasn’t going to let them anymore. 

“So… what happens now?” She finally asked. 

“Well, if memory serves, you should talk to Snape. He’ll get everything sorted out so you can move in, as well as give you some potions that’ll help you look more like a girl on the outside,” Mari said, “I mean. It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than the Muggle HRT. Don’t worry about it… unlike me, you have a cool upperclassman helping you along! 

Harry giggled at the older girl, “Thanks, Mari.”

She thought to herself… things… really are going to be different, won’t they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry may have left the cupboard a month ago... but now she's finally out of the closet!
> 
> I'm still debating on what her new name will be, but from here on in I'll only be referring to her with female pronouns.
> 
> I personally like to believe the wizarding world is a bit farther ahead than the Muggle world in terms of LGBT+ rights. I mean, these suckers do things that defy science and logic all the time, plus the existence of Metamorphmagi make gender roles pretty useless. Sure, there likely is some sexist, homophobic bigot somewhere in the wizarding world, but they're always going to exist. The best thing to do is not to let them dictate how you live your lives...
> 
> Y'all are valid. I'll have the next chapter:... I actually haven't named it yet. But it will be made soon. Stay tuned, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


	8. Changes

**Chapter 8: changes**

  
  


“You ready?” Mari asked as she and Harry came to the outside of professor Snape’s office.

“Kinda nervous…” Harry said sheepishly. 

“Relax. Snape’s a bit… you know, Snape. But he does come through for his students when it counts,” The older girl gave a smile.

Harry took a deep breath, “Alright…”

She followed Mari into the potions classroom. The prefect walked up to Snape’s office and gave a knock. After a few seconds she heard the man’s voice, “Enter.” 

With that the two entered his office, he appeared to be looking through some papers, likely homework from some of the older students. 

“Potter, Spade. Sit,” The man said, setting his work aside. Harry sat down at the seat in front of his desk, while Mari simply stood at the door. He continued in his usual low, calm voice, “Well then, if you’re here, I am to assume the rumors I have heard are true?” 

Harry looked him in the eyes… something was different than when she’d last saw him. Though his face remained emotionless, it seemed as if his gaze had been… pacified. Like he had released some large anger from within him. 

“Well sir… that depends what the rumors are,” She answered. 

“Well, for one, Prefect Spade informed me the possibility you were transgender, is this correct?” Snape said, eyeing the animagus. 

“Yes, sir. We tested with the stairs not that long ago,” Harry nodded. 

“Right then,” Snape said, reaching into one of his drawers. He pulled out two vials. One of them contained a bright pinkish potion, while the other was a blue-greenish color, he held the pink vial, “This potion will allow your body to mature in more feminine ways by suppressing male hormones. Take two doses after dinner every day, results will begin within a few months, and will complete in four to six years. You may feel some growing pains from time to time, but they are mostly normal.”

“Alright sir, sorry for the trouble,” Harry said as he handed her the vial. 

“It’s not trouble, Miss Potter. I know well enough that no one chooses to be transgender, it just happens. If anything you would be causing me  _ more  _ trouble if you didn’t accept it. We already know you can’t access the Boy’s Dormitories,” The professor explained. Though it was still in his monotone voice, Harry felt a little reassurance from it. 

“Alright…” She said, before eyeing the second vial, “Um.. sir, what in that vial then?” 

“This is to help with your malnourishment,” The professor said, “I’m already aware of what’s been done to you. You’ll drink one dose of this with every meal to help your body heal from the years of damage it’s taken.” 

He handed her the second vial. 

“On that note,” Snape said, “there is still one issue remaining. Your living situation…” 

Harry flinched at that. She knew he’d been told of course, she just really didn’t want to think about it. The Dursleys had been horrible to her… “Sir… I never want to go back there…” 

“That, miss Potter, is something I can understand,” Snape gave her a nod. He pulled out some parchment, “Sign your relatives address here. I will pass it onto the ministry with an anonymous tip that they are guilty of child abuse. If they find enough evidence to convict them, you will remain at the school until a suitable guardian can be found. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir…. Thankyou,” the girl said, writing down the Dursley’s address. Boy were they in for it.

“Think nothing of it. Even if I am not the most enjoyable of people, I am not one to just stand by in these situations,” Snape said sternly, “Spade. Escort Miss Potter back to her commonroom and help her move her things.”

“Right Away, sir,” Mari nodded, “Come on, Harry.”

“Thanks again, professor,” Harry said one last time as she left her chair. The professor simply nodded as she left.

…

The reaction to this news had been… far better than Harry had honestly expected. 

Honestly, none of the girls minded that she’d be moving in. If anything they were just happy the boy’s didn’t outnumber them anymore. They knew if the stares let her up then there was no way she was lying. And one of them joked that with Milicent around, she wasn’t exactly the least feminine person in the room.

Daphne had even been nice enough to lend her some of her clothes since they were similar in size. Saying that no girl should have to wear their cousin’s oversized rags.And honestly, Why the hell did no one tell her girl’s clothes were so comfortable?! Sure the lack of pockets was annoying, but magic was a thing. She’d probably manage somehow.

Blaise also took it pretty well. As a matter of fact his only reaction seemed to be, “Are you wearing a dress?” 

“Yes,” Harry had said. 

“Oh… anyway!” And then he proceeded with the conversation as if this had happened hundreds of times. Honestly, Harry was glad her friend didn’t even care. She should have seen it coming. Blaise seemed to be chill about everything… 

Well, almost everything. He did have his trigger word; Black Widow. Harry had asked most of her class, except Draco, and all of them either didn’t know or thought talking about it behind Blaise’s back was a bad idea.

Speaking of Draco, the blond seemed to be on a mission to single handedly bankrupt Slytherin of house points. Evidently Hogwarts treated transphobic slurs in a similar vein to blood or racial slurs… the former two of which, Draco used  _ A LOT.  _ It was getting bad. Really bad. 

One time he’d even called Mari a mudblood when she took house points for his behavior… the odd thing was,  _ Merula _ had to be held down after that to stop her from giving the blond a second black eye.

Weasley was a similar way. Though the redhead didn’t give a damn about blood status, evidently he had grown up in a household that had some of the more traditional values. Like the men working while the women keep the house in check and such. Thus, he was almost always making some kind of comment about Harry needing to “Man up already.”

Honestly, Harry was starting to be grateful she wasn’t a gryff. With how obnoxious and narrow minded they always acted, she wasn’t sure she’d last the year.

Well… there was one Gryffindor that wasn’t that bad. Neville had quickly become one of her closer friends along with Blaise. The kid may have had self esteem issues, but man was he brilliant when it came to plants. Evidently he had inherited his mother’s green thumb, he could name practically any plant and what it could be used for on the spot.

As a matter of fact, Harry and Blaise decided they’d cut the gryffindor boy a deal. They’d clue him in on Snape’s sneaky methods, a class he wasn’t exactly bad at, but most definitely could use the help, if he helped them study for herbology.

Of course, Harry coming out wasn’t enough for Blaise to stop trying to set her up with Pansy. Thus he’d asked her to join the new study group as well.

“So, based on how Professor Snape’s lessons have gone thus far, I believe he will next pull from  _ Potions of the Past _ , it’s a book about potions that are no longer used and the reasons they’ve lost their place in society,” Pansy suggested as the combed through a large number of potion’s books in the library, “Harry, what do you think?” 

“Uh…” To be honest, She hadn’t paid attention to a word the other girl had just said, she’d gone into gay panic the moment she’d started talking. 

“Excuse me, are you using this book?” Harry was saved by another voice as from behind her providing a distraction. She turned to see the Granger girl. 

“Um…” Harry looked to see which book she was referring to. It was an old and frankly out of date book they’d already read through, “No… there should be any problem, uh…” 

“Hermione,” The girl said, a bit of a sad look in her eyes, “We met on the train, remember?” 

“Oh right… you fixed my glasses… I’m sorry, it’s just been a hectic couple of weeks for me,” Harry replied, mentally scolding herself for forgetting the other girl’s name.

“Don’t worry, it happens a lot,” Hermione sighed, grabbing the book, she turned to the only gryff of the group, “Oh, and Neville, there’s a house meeting in an hour. Prefect Weasley told me to remind you so you don’t forget again.” 

“Oh...right. Thank’s Mione,” Neville nodded.

“Don;t mention it,” Hermione sighed, before walking off. Harry didn’t know why but… something felt off about the girl. And if her life was anything to go off of, if something was off, you should probably look into it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hermione has entered the chat.
> 
> Yeah, not really much to say about this one... 
> 
> Anywho, stay tuned for the next chapter, "Halloween..." 
> 
> ...I apologize for not being able to actually get that chapter out on Halloween.


	9. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My only regret with this fic, is that I wasn't able to get this out ON Halloween... so happy two days late Halloween everybody.

**Chapter 9: Halloween**

Harry was honestly surprised to find out wizards celebrated Halloween. She had expected that the magical community would have had their own holidays, but sure enough, the week of October 31st, students and teachers alike were preparing for their festivities. 

Hagrid had been hard at work setting up the vast number of decorations. It quickly became impossible not to see a Jackolantern somewhere.

An odd sight had been seen throughout the Snake pit. Multiple times, every day, Mari kept chasing Merula around, asking her to do a two part costume with her, which the other witch rejected every time… it was honestly fun to watch. 

“I keep telling ya, I ain’t wearing that stupid costume!” Merula yelled across the common room. 

“Please! I think you’d make a lovely Leia!” The prefect whined in a fashion unbefitting of her title. 

“It’s not enough ya made me watch those stupid Muggle movies, butcha ‘ave ta make me dress like one a them for this stupid muggle ‘Oliday!” the girl was in full on Screaming Scotsman mode.

“Oh come on!” Mari pleaded. 

Harry and Blaise couldn’t help but laugh at this display. Soon after, she notice Liz carrying a rather large box to the dorms. 

“What are you doing?” Harry asked, starring at her. 

“Preparing!” Liz yelled dramatically, “The Hollow’s curse isn’t gonna get me! Not this year!” 

The older girl continued toward her room, using her wand to open the door to the hallway. 

“Hollow’s curse?” Blaise asked. 

“Oh good, you didn’t understand her either,” Harry sighed in relief. She really didn’t like how out of the loop she was with wizarding stuff, “what’s she talking about?” 

“It’s an old witch’s tale,” Barnaby answered, magically hanging up some decorations, “They say it started the year before wizards began celebrating Halloween. Now every year something apparently goes horribly wrong, Especially at Hogwarts.” 

“I get it, it’s like one of those spooky stories parent’s tell kids to trick them into behaving!” Blaise said. 

“Maybe… but, it’d be a lie to say there wasn’t some bit of truth to it,” The older boy said. 

“Yeah. ever since 1981, Halloween’s been like Friday the 13th for magic folk,” Mari added, taking a break from trying to convince Merula. 

“Our first year, a pack a werewolves got inta the school…” Merula shivered a bit.

“Couple years later there was a massive boggart infestation…” Barnaby said. 

“Really, the curse could just be a coincidence…” Mari started, “Or maybe it’s a direct result of what happened that night…” 

Harry looked at her confused, “What happened?” 

“Uh… I shouldn’t have said that…” the older girl sighed, walking off to do some other task. 

Great, now she was being left out of the loop deliberately.

“Look kid,” Barnaby said, clearly recognising the look on her face, “It’s not a fun story. We don’t wanna screw up a holiday for ya.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” she pouted a little. 

… 

When the day of Halloween finally arrived, it began as any other morning… that is until a jetblack owl dropped a newspaper copy in front of Harry and Blaise… 

“What th-” She didn’t even have the chance to ask as the owl flew away. 

“What was that about?” Blaise asked. 

“I don’t know but… that wasn’t my owl,” Harry said as she picked up the newspaper. Covering the front page was a note that read;  _ Consider this a gift. _ Well, that got her attention. She ripped the note off and saw the headline;  _ Boy who Lived Abused! _

She mentally flinched at the title. She was quickly growing to resent that name after realizing she was trans. Honestly it was just giving people who didn’t agree with her coming out fuel to try and get her to “Return to normal!” Thankfully everyone she considered a friend didn’t use that title at all.

Getting over it, she began reading the article. 

“ **_That’s right folks, you heard it here first. Everything we’ve known about the childhood of the famous Harry Potter, the child savior of the wizarding world, has been a lie._ **

**_After an anonymous tip to the ministry, Aurors were sent to investigate the home of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, whom the anonymous tipper had reason to believe were abusing a magical child._ **

**_After the investigation, evidence suggested not only was this true, but it had been happening to the most famous child in the wizarding world! According to the reports, the boy had been kept in a cupboard under the stairs, a space far too small for a child his age to occupy!_ **

**_More unsettling, when those dreadful muggles were questioned, not only did they admit that they’d been beating and starving the poor boy, they acted proud of doing so! Saying they were trying to “Beat the freakishness out of him!”_ **

**_These horrid people are so cruel that they would purposely abuse a child just because they weren’t fond of his magic! What makes this worse, is a DNA test confirmed that Petunia Dursley is in fact the sister of the late Lily Potter. She’s been doing this to her own flesh and blood!_ **

**_The two muggles are scheduled for a trial on November 12th. And personally, this reporter hopes they go to Azkaban for this outrage!_ **

**_By far the most puzzling thing this story brings to light, is the fact that Albus Dumbledore, Leader of light, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has been lying to us for years on the details of young Harry’s life. If he was willing to lie to the public about what was happening to Harry Potter, we can only imagine what else he’s lied about…_ ** ” 

Harry snickered as she finished the article, “Karma finally did her job!” 

“What is it?” Blaise asked, eying the paper. 

Harry handed it to him and continued eating, a wicked grin on her face. She’d been trying for years to get away from those monsters of relatives, and now she was finally free! No more cupboard, no more beatings. Finally, things were looking up! 

Evidently, she wasn’t the only one to get the news. Many students around the room started whispering to each other, taking brief glances at the Slytherin table. Even some of the staff looked surprised at what they read. It looked as though Prof. McGonagall was using every ounce of her willpower not to explode in rage in front of all her students. Hagrid wore a similar face after reading it.

Really the only ones who didn’t seem surprised were some of those at the Slytherin table, and of course their head of house. Harry made a mental note to thank the man later.

… 

Prof Dumbledore hadn’t come to breakfast, and for good reason. When he first read today’s edition of the Daily Prophet, he’d realised that he was about to be the recipantant of  _ many _ negative opinions today. How could this have happened?!

Clearly someone on the staff had been the anonymous tipper. There was no doubt about it. Only one of Harry’s professors would have paid enough attention to pick up on the child's… living situation. 

He quickly ruled out Severus. He may have been Harry’s head of house, but the hatred between him and James Potter was immense. He completely expected the man’s hatred to extend to James’ child. 

He also dismissed the idea of several of the other teachers, mostly because a number of them had no first year classes, and would have little contact with Harry whatsoever. It had to be a teacher that every first year would have known… 

“ALBUS!” He heard Minerva’s voice yell, interrupting his thoughts. He could tell from her tone she was angry. Very angry. 

The transfiguration professor entered the room, a furious expression on her face and a newspaper in her hand. She threw it down on the man’s desk, “care to explain?” 

“Minerva, pleas-” Dumbledore started, only for the witch to cut him off. 

“DON’T YOU ‘ _ MINERVA _ ’ ME!” She yelled, “I told you! I told you they were the worst kind of muggles! But no, evidently you think a house of abusers was the safest place for her!” 

“Oh, now you’re doing this ‘her’ nonsense?” Dumbledore groaned, “this is just a phase of sorts. He’s still the  _ boy _ who lived, you know.” 

“She’s transgender, you old fool! Don’t change the subject!” Minerva scolded him, “How long have you known? You’re her Magical guardian, there’s no way you didn’t know what was happening to her.” 

“I…” Dumbledore was unsure how to proceed. While Minerva was constantly frustrated by James when he attended this school, she did consider him like family. Thus no doubt she felt a similar way toward Harry, even if their time together was limited. 

“How long have you known?!” the other professor repeated.

“Minerva, if you knew my reasons you would unders-” He was cut off by a painful slap across the face.

“Listen here, Dumbledore!” The witch pointed a figure at his face, “I went along with you placing Harry in the Dursley’s ca-... Custody. I’ve had faith in you for most my life, and have looked the other way countless times… but if you think you can let an innocent child suffer as a means to your ends, and I will just stand by and watch it happen, you are sorely mistaken!” 

Minerva glared at him one last time before leaving the room. Dumbledore was speechless. 

“You know…” He heard the sorting hat say, “you really should’ve seen this coming! A person can only get away with so much before other’s start questioning their morality!” 

“Oh would you just shut up already!” Dumbledore yelled back.

…

It wasn’t too bad for Harry’s first real halloween. She wasn’t sure why the “Hollow’s Curse” was a well known legend, honestly the day had gone fine for her! 

In addition to the good news she recieved this morning, her charms class had gone exceptionally well! 

Today they were beginning to practice the Levitating charm, which they’d been studying for the past week. It was an important spell to learn given it was the basis for many different spells, such as Accio, Leviocorpus, and quite a few others she couldn’t remember the name of.

As usual, she got a hang of the spell almost right away. Levitating a simple feather a few feat in the air. Prof. Flitwick said they’d move onto heavier objects as the week progressed, but for now they were starting with the light things. 

Honestly one of the best parts of the class was when Ron made a fool of himself by setting his feather on fire. She’d gotten a good laugh at that.

After the classes had finished and it was around time for dinner. All the houses converged into the great hall for a Halloween feast! 

About halfway through dinner, Harry felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Neville, a nervous look on his face.

“Um, Harry?” he asked, “Have you seen Hermione? She wasn’t in our afternoon classes, which is o-odd because… well, she’s Hermione. She never misses class.” 

“Actually…” Harry thought about it. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t seen the gryffindor girl since charms… “No. I haven’t seen her…” 

“We can help you look for her if you want,” Blaise suggested. 

“Y-yeah, thanks,” Neville nodded, “I can’t think of anything that’d keep her from class… that’s why I’m worried.” 

“Right, let’s go!” Harry said getting up and dusting some crumbs off her skirt. 

Just before the Trio had the chance to leave, the doors of the great hall swung open, getting everyone’s attention. They saw Professor Quirrell running towards the staff table. 

“TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!” He said, losing his breath, “Though you ought to know…”

He passed out on the floor, and the entire room went crazy. Hysterical screaming filled the room. It quickly became a madhouse. 

“SILENCE!” Dumbledore’s voice rang through the room, quieting the students, “Everyone please remain calm, and return to your common rooms! No one is to leave them until the issue is resolved!” 

With that, both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw houses left the room. However, the slytherins and Hufflepuffs returned to their hysteria. 

“We can’t go back to the common room! It’s in the dungeons! That’s where the troll is!” Draco screamed.

“Our’s too!” A hufflepuff cried.

“Calm yourselves!” Professor Snape yelled as he and Prof. Sprout approached the students.

“Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, follow your prefects to the Library!” Professor sprout said. 

The prefects nodded and began to file the students out of the room. Before she left, Harry went up to Snape. 

“Sir!” She cried out. 

“What did we just say, Potter?!” He shouted. 

“I know sir, but one of the Gryffindors is missing! Granger wasn’t at the feast or the afternoon classes, She doesn’t know what’s going on!” Harry explained. 

Snape thought to himself for a second, “Go with the others. I’ll find Miss Granger.” 

“Yes, sir,” Harry nodded as she rejoined the other slytherins, heading toward the library. 

“It’s  _ always  _ the gryffindors,” He grumbled as he started toward the dungeons.

With luck he would arrive in time to prevent anything from happening… however what Snape wasn’t aware of, was exactly how much ground the Troll had made...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well now, what exactly is gonna happen to Hermione? Don't worry fans, the Troll won't kill her, I'm not that evil... but... well, just hope she makes it out in one piece. Stay tuned!


	10. Hollow's curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cried making this, now you have to cry reading it!

**Chapter 10: Hollow’s curse.**

The suspense was killing her. How was Harry supposed to just sit around and wait for the professors to get rid of the troll?! Especially when she knew another girl was somewhere in the castle with absolutely no idea what was going on!

He sighed as she looked out among her classmates. Though it was hard to tell from the stone cold expressions the slytherins wore, She could tell they were scared. The hufflepuffs were much easier for the average person to pick up on that they were terrified. All of them staying very close to one another.

She could see Tonks embracing some of the younger years, likely trying to calm them. Similarly, Mari and Merula were watching everyone with concerned looks, not a word passing between them. 

She let out a groan, burying herself in her legs.

“You okay, kid?” she heard Barnaby sit down beside her.

“Ugh, no…” She sighed, “Earlier today it seemed things were finally going my way… Now there’s a troll on the loose, and if Hermione’s not lucky…” 

The seventh year put a hand on her shoulder, “We’ve all been there, kid… Just when it seems like life’s giving us a break, it decides it wants to make your life hell again.”

“Yeah..” Harry wiped off her glasses, “I guess Liz was right about that stupide Hollow’s curse.. Why is it even a thing, anyhow?” 

Barnaby didn’t answer, he simply stared at her. Seemingly thinking of what to tell her. 

“You can just say it. You don’t have to worry about ruining the Holiday for me, the Troll beat ya to it,” Harry said.

The prefect took a deep breath, “They say Hollow’s curse started on halloween night, 1981… after the tragedy that happened in Godric’s Hollow…” 

“What happened?” She asked him to continue. 

“Believe me, kid… you know what happened…” Barnaby said solemnly. 

Harry’s eyes widened as she realised what he was talking about… that was the day her parents died… Hollow’ curse started with their murder… A few stray tears fell down her cheeks. That’s why wizards celebrated Halloween… it was the anniversary of their deaths… of Voldemort’s defeat.

Barnaby didn’t say anything, he just simply held her. Letting her get a good cry out. She knew others were likely watching, but she didn’t care. She needed this. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she finally calmed down. 

“You good, kid?” The prefect boy finally asked. 

“Yeah.. It’s just… I never knew this was the day…” Harry sighed.

“Can’t imagine it’s pleasant to think about,” Barnaby said, “Don’t worry, Kid. I’m here for ya.” 

Harry sniffled, still a bit upset, but feeling appreciating the sentiment. Wanting a change of subject, she decided to ask him something, “Why… do you keep calling me ‘Kid?’ Come to think of it… you’ve never actually used my name…” 

“Oh… I thought you were gonna change it,” Barnaby gave a grin, “I was one of the last people to stop deadnaming Mari… mostly because I didn’t get why she was changing it. So, when I figured out you were trans, I figured I wouldn’t use your name til you thought of a new one.” 

“Oh…” Harry said in realization. It was at this point she realized that, yeah… Harry James Potter was definitely a more masculine name… To be honest, she hadn’t really thought about changing it, but… well it definitely made sense to. 

She knew one thing for sure though… her middle name would be after her mother. She didn’t want to lose the memory of them. She wasn’t sure what she’d use for her first name. She’d probably use the old Evans’ naming scheme. Naming the girls after flowers… 

Her thoughts were interrupted as the doors to the Library swung open, both Professors Snape and Sprout entered. 

“Alright, everyone. The troll has been dealt with. You may return to your common rooms and get some rest, merlin knows you’ll need it,” Snape announced.

Letting out sighs of relief, the students began leaving the library. Harry immediately shot up an ran over to Prof. Snape. 

“Professor! Hermione, is she alright?” Her voice was full of concern. 

“Calm yourself, Miss Potter,” The professor said sternly. He let out a sigh, “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find Miss Granger in time… she is alive, however she is confined to the Hospital wing for the next few days.” 

“What happened to her?” Harry asked. 

“You can ask her yourself, tomorrow,” Snape said, “It’s been a hectic night for all of us. You should go to bed like everyone else.” 

“But-” “no buts!” Snape cut her off. 

“I recognise you are concerned with your classmate’s wellbeing, however Madam Pomfrey is currently attending to her wounds. It is best if you allow her to rest, and you do the same. Am I clear?” The professor said, looking her dead in the eyes.

“Yes, sir…” She sighed in defeat. Before heading back to the common room.

…

The first thing Harry did after waking up that morning was go over to the Library and gather several books she thought Hermione would enjoy. Anyone who knew the young witch knew reading was by far her favorite pastime. 

She’d had no idea what exactly had happened to the other girl, but she knew it wasn’t good. Especially since she’d been in the hospital wing all night. 

She let out a sigh, before heading to her destination. Harry had yet to go to the Hospital wing, something she was thankful for, as this was currently her record time of going without injury. One of the perks of being away from the Dursleys. 

When she finally arrived, she saw the place was more or less empty… Only one of the beds had the divider’s up.

“Miss Potter?” She turned to see a forty-year old woman in a red and white uniform, who must have been Madam Pomfrey, “Here to see Miss Granger I assume?” 

“Yes ma’am,” Harry nodded, “Is she alright?” 

“Well… it certainly could have been worse… but it most definitely could have been better,” The mediwitch replied, pointing to the curtain hiding a bed, “She’s awake. Try not to over excite her. She’s had a rough night.”

Harry nodded again and walked over. When she parted the curtain, she saw hermione starring at her left leg, which was bound in a cast. A sad expression was on her face(As well as a few bandages.) It took her a minute to realize she had company.

“Oh… hello, Harry,” she said quietly. 

“I… brought you some books. Figured if you’re going to be in here, might as well have something to do,” Harry replied. Setting them on the table next to her. 

Hermione reached for the book on top of the stack, “Thankyou…” 

“So… what happened to you? I’ve asked around, but no one’s given me a straight answer… Are you ok?” Harry asked her with concern.

“Well, I’m alive at least…” Hermione replied in a quiet tone, “The Troll only managed to hit me once before the professors found it, but…”

She once again looked at her leg. 

“They… they said the nerves on my leg were snapped, along with a broken bone…” Hermione sighed, “even with magic, I’ll be lucky if I ever walk again…” 

“They… they can’t heal it?” Harry asked, a bit of panic in her voice. 

“If it were just the bone they could’ve done something. But this was much worse… it’s actually a wonder it didn’t go flying off..” the girl said dryly. Harry thought she was being remarkably calm about this, until she noticed the dried tears on her face. She’d already poured her feelings out… now she was just facing reality. 

“I’m… so sorry this happened to you..” was all Harry could say. 

“Don’t be. It’s my own fault…” Hermione sighed, “I just  _ had  _ to spend all day crying in the bathroom…”

“So that’s where you were… What happened?” Harry asked. The other girl was silent, she looked her in the eyes, “It’s ok. You can tell me.” 

Hermione looked at her, before sighing, “Remember what happened in charms yesterday?” 

“Not really… all I know you did was correct Weasley,” Harry replied. 

“Well… after that, I heard him say something to another student…” A tear ran down her face, “She’s so annoying, it’s no wonder why she hasn’t got any friends!” 

The young witch sniffled a bit. Harry was dumbfounded… how could someone say that? Sure Hermione could be a little much, but she was one of the most brilliant people She’d ever met! Seriously, did she actually almost end up friends with him?

“Worst part is… he wasn’t wrong…” Hermione sighed, “I’ve… never been good at making friends… back in primary school everyone thought I was weird… that and a Know-it-all. And even when I got into Hogwarts it didn’t exactly change…” 

She felt like she was about to cry again… but she felt Harry pull her into a hug. 

“I understand… I completely understand…” Harry said, “all the muggle kids either didn’t like me because they thought I was some kind of freak… Or didn’t want to be friends because of what my cousin would do to them… I never really had friends til I got here… and even then, it’s just a few people.” 

“R-really?” Hermione still had a few tears in her eyes. 

“Look, you don’t have to worry about it… Ron’s a prick, don’t believe what he says…” Harry said, “Besides… he’s wrong.” 

“What do you…” the other witch looked at her.

“If no one else will… I’ll be your friend,” Harry gave her a smile.

Hermione’s eyes started tearing up again. Only this time she smiled, she hugged Harry back, “Thank you!”

The two simply sat there in a silent hug for a few moments… before they heard a nervous boy’s voice say, “Am I… Interrupting something?”

Harry looked to see Neville had entered the room. 

“Oh.. hey Neville. No, you’re fine,” She said. 

The Gryffindor boy walked over to Hermione’s bed, voice full of concern, “Are you ok? The moment I saw you weren’t in classes I knew something was wrong!” 

Hermione wiped a few tears from her face, “I’ve been better but… I’ll manage. Thank you for your concern…” 

Neville gave a hesitant nod, “It… It isn’t right what Ron said to you, you know… You’re probably the most brilliant witch I’ve ever met.” 

“Thanks, Neville…” She said softly. Her eyes were still full of tears but… somehow, she couldn’t remember ever being happier..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I'm not even sure what to put here, honestly. 
> 
> Just, stay tuned for the next chapter.


	11. Calla

**chapter 11: Calla.**

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Thanks to your help, we may finally be able to get that Dumbledore fool out of his position,” Lucious Malfoy said as he exited the muggle home, a faux grin on his face.

“Well, we’re not about to let our daughter’s school be managed by some old kook who can’t keep the students safe,” Mr. Granger said, shaking the man’s hand. 

“I understand completely, I’m a father myself,” Lucious replied. He bidded the couple farewell. When he heard the door shut, he dropped his facade, “Filthy muggles, ugh!” 

He could barely stand to treat them with any sort of respect. He was a lord of the sacred twenty-eight, for merlin’s sake! Of course, he needed them to think well of him, it was the only way he was going to get rid of Dumbledore. 

While yes, he did on some level feel sorry for the poor girl that fell victim to the troll, that was only because she was a child. Everyone in the magical community valued their children. Mostly because of how common infertility was amongst them. He still remembered when he had to inform the Khannas, A perfectly pureblood family who provided an essential service to the wizarding world for decades, that their son had been killed.

But, Lucious didn’t really care what happened to some random muggle born, what he was interested in was using her condition to get rid of one of his lord’s biggest threats. 

He’d been trying to get Professor Dumbledore removed from Hogwarts since the war ended, with no real success. If he didn’t succeed within the next year, he was planning on unleashing the monster of the Chamber of Secrets… no. He wouldn’t need to resort to that. 

The fact that that one year a student dies, and the next another is crippled for life, was all the man would need to finally get Dumbledore out of the picture. A wicked grin appeared on his face as he appirated home.

… 

Within days, Hermione was discharged from the Hospital wing. She now needed a wheelchair to get around, but in classes it seemed as though this didn’t phase her at all. The witch wasn’t about to let one mistake ruin her academic career! While she definitely was taking time to adjust, she made almost double the effort to get her spells right on the first try.

Harry could understand it. Afterall, the way things were looking, Hermione was going to need to rely on magic just to do basic things like reach a cabinet. Really, the only class she wasn’t doing just as well in was flying. Since she had to be in a wheelchair, she was excused from the class indefinitely(Handicapped brooms had yet to be invented.)

The one thing Harry couldn’t understand was exactly  _ how  _ she was getting around in that wheelchair. Hogwarts wasn’t exactly a handicapped-friendly place, what with its hundreds of staircases between each class.

She’d asked her about it, to which she simply said, “Hogwarts has precautions for someone in my position.” Whatever that meant.

Hermione had also joined their little study group, which thanks to her quickly became a collective knowledge of everything the five students knew. Harry knew she was a smart girl, but the amount of things this witch knew about the wizarding world despite only being a part of it for barely half a year was amazing! 

If Liz was supposed to be a human encyclopedia, Hermione must have been a human  _ Library _ ! 

At the moment, the group was just having a bit of downtime in the library, having no real homework due soon. Hermione was of course studying ahead, no surprises there, Blaise was actually looking over her shoulder from time to time, hoping to get a bit of an edge on his classes. Pansy was neck deep in her magazines, also quite predictable. 

Meanwhile, Harry and Neville were actually looking through books on plants. Flowers specifically. The reasoning behind this was simple. They were looking for her new name. The thing Harry had noticed about her mother’s family, is they named all the girls after flowers, it was a tradition. One she was looking to continue.

She’d quickly shot down the name ‘Rose’ because it was too common. ‘Violet’ came after because it didn’t feel right. Tulip because that was the name of a notorious prankster from Ravenclaw, who, while not as bad as Tonks or the Weasley twins, was mostly known for setting off dung-bombs where you’d least expect. Petunia for… obvious reasons. 

They had gone down a list for a while now, and she one reason or another to shoot down pretty much every suggestion so far...

“Wow… you are picky,” Neville said as he looked at how many they’d gone through already.

“Well, i have to be sure. This is gonna be my new name, I can’t just pick any random one…” She sighed, “Really, All that I’m completely sure about is that I’m taking my mother’s name for my middle name…” 

“Hmm… that, well then…” Neville thought for a moment, “what if your first and middle name combined? Like, you’re named after a specific type of lily, like a Tiger Lily?”

“Heh… well, I don’t think I’ll go with that one, but-” Harry was about to finish, but was interrupted by an annoyingly familiar voice.

“Well, would you look at this group of rejects,” Draco sneered as he and his cronies passed them. 

“Don’t you have anything better to do, Malfoy? Or is your life really that sad you have to bother someone else 24/7?” Harry sighed. 

“It gets old, mate,” Blaise narrowed his eyes in annoyance. 

Draco disregarded this and focused on what Harry said, “My life? Sad? This from the one who needs to pretend to be a girl just to feel special?”

Harry simply narrowed her gaze, the rest of her group acting similar, “Alright, who wants to?” 

“Allow me,” Hermione said, rolling over to the blond, “Hey, Malfoy. How painful to you think a wheel could be?” 

Draco looked at her confused, “I don’t know… why are you changing the-OW!” 

He yelped in pain as Hermione ran over his foot. 

“What about now, got a better estimate?” She asked with a coy grin. 

“Why, you!” Draco said, pulling out his wand. 

“I don’t think so!” Harry said doing the same, followed by Blaise, Pansy, and Neville lastly.

“I’d back away Draco,” Pansy said, “You are outnumbered here…”

Thinking rationally for once, the blond put his wand away, and stomped off, grumbling. 

“Thank you, Mione,” Harry grinned. She went back to her book,looking through a few pages, when her eye’s landed on one particular flower. The picture practically called out to her. As she read the description, she said, “It’s perfect…”

…

Meanwhile on the other end of the library, the Weasley twins were looking for Liz Tuttle. After their various tests on the cerberus had failed, they decided to consult the one person in the school who knew more about magical creatures than even the Professors. 

“Hello, Elizabeth,” Fred greeted the girl.

“You’re looking lovely today,” George added.

Liz just looked at them, knowing exactly what they were trying to do, “What do you want?”

“What? Whatever do you mean, can’t we just complement one of the beautiful upperclassmen?” Fred asked dramatically. Liz raised an eyebrow.

“Ok, fine,” George said in a defeated tone.

“We need to know anything you know about cerberus,” Fred added. 

“Why?” Liz asked, before getting a terrifying thought, “You aren’t trying to bring one onto the school are you?”

“What, of course not!” Both twins said.

“Ya see, we pulled a little prank on Professor Kettleburn,” George lied, though it was a convincing one.

“He’s making us right a full essay on taming cerberus as a punishment, we figured we could use your expertise to get it over with,” Fred said in agreement. 

Liz looked the two over, clearly suspicious. She sighed, “Fine. I’ll help, but only because I’m worried what you’ll do to me if I say no.” 

“Thank you, Lizzy! We knew we could count on you!” Fred smiled. 

“Well, let’s not waste time! Let’s get started, we’re all ears!” George smiled as well. 

With any luck, they’d be past that cerberus by the end of the week.

…

She’d had a rather uneventful day, to be honest. Really, she figured when she decided on her new name it would be a much bigger deal but… really, it had just been another day. She knew of course that many of her classmates were still going to cling to the idea she was still Harry Potter.

But that couldn’t be more wrong, really. Harry potter had been an unhappy boy who lived a miserable, friendless life with the abusive relatives he called “family.” And really… that was something she didn’t want to go back to.

So, as Calla Lily Potter looked at herself in the mirror, staring at the girl looking back at her, admiring her now shoulder length hair, she smiled. She was finally free… In the past month, she had gained friends, ditched those terrible muggles, and started her transition… Really, her life had all changed a lot in a short amount of time… and she was completely fine with that. 

After getting into pajamas, she gave a yawn. Tomorrow she’d face her first day as Calla instead of Harry… she couldn’t wait!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it! Calla Lily Potter, everybody! 
> 
> I went with this name purely because of just how symbolic it was. Calla Lilies have a lot of symbolism behind them. White ones mean purity and innocence, pink can mean love and affection, yellow graditude. and an odd thing about the flower ingeneral, is that they are common in both weddings and funerals. Evidentally they're supposed to be a symbol for love and Goodluck, as well as something to send off deceased loved ones which... just felt poetic.
> 
> Anyhow, stay tuned for the next chapter!


	12. Guilty!

**Chapter 12: Guilty!**

Calla was waiting in anticipation when November twelfth rolled around. Today was the day justice would finally get off it’s lazy ass and finally give the Dursleys what they deserved. All she had to do was sit patiently for the verdict.

Professor Snape had advised her not to go to the trial in person, as her transition could, and most likely would, result in a lot of shock, questions, and a lot of unwanted attention. Calla couldn’t agree more. It seemed one thing after another got her classmates to stare at her like she was some kind of circus freak. 

Honestly, while she didn’t mind the money her fame would no doubt bring her, she didn’t like the attention. Maybe when she grew up she’d just retire early. Be smart with her money, settle down, maybe start a family with Pan- NO! Begone thoughts! She was spending too much time with Blaise.

She let out a breath, her focus returning to today’s charms lesson. They weren’t practicing any spells today, Flitwick was simply lecturing them on their latest lesson. She hadn’t been paying attention, but she was pretty sure Hermione just answered a question. Evident by the triumphant grin on the girl’s face.

An odd thing she noticed was that Ron was unusually quiet today… actually, the more she thought about it, He seemed to be quiet in general whenever Hermione was around, after she was discharged from the hospital wing. It was odd, whenever he knew she was around he didn’t speak unless spoken to. It was really unlike the Ron she’d known thus far. 

Calla turned her attention away from the gryffindors. Instead trying to focus on the lesson. She really didn’t want her spacing out to become a regular thing… Too late for now though. She was completely lost on where they were… Oh well, Hermione would catch her up later. 

Her thoughts drifted to the future again… though, this time, the more immediate future. Mainly, this weekend. Professor Snape had arranged a trip to Gringotts for the purpose of finding her a new guardian. It was a wizard custom that if you were expecting to die when you had children who would need to be cared for, to leave a list of those you would trust with the task in your will. In addition, she would have her magic evaluated to see if she had any blocks or such that needed to be removed, or if her magic had received any damage that may be of concern later in life…

...And through some negotiation with her head of house, she had also convinced him to allow her a short shopping spree. Mostly to replace her wardrobe. She was ever so thankful to Daphne for lending her some clothes, but she did want to have some that didn’t belong to anyone else at any point in time. She’d already had so many ideas for some outfits. 

Honestly, the more she thought about it, the girl simply had much to look forward to! She was getting all giddy at the thought. Things had been going well recently!

… 

Things had  _ not _ been going well recently. 

That was all Dumbledore could think as he desperately tried to destroy the various Howlers screaming around him, giving the old man a massive headache. He couldn’t believe this! It seemed he was getting these on the daily now! 

Ever since that Halloween when it got out that not only had he deliberately lied about Harry Potter’s childhood, but a troll had made it into the school  _ and  _ crippeled a student on his watch, well, needless to say the media was tearing at him. 

Now the leader of light couldn’t go a day without an owl flying into his office and adding to the growing pile of hate mail from concerned parents, as well as people who had reason to believe he had somehow deceived them. 

But nothing compared to the notice he received from the schools governor’s this morning, “ _ Dear Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, _

_ In regards to the recent Troll attack, and many complaints we have received. A high Inquisitor will be issued to the school after the winter Holidays. This Inquisitor will review all staff members, including yourself, in order to make sure everything is up to standard.  _

_ If we have any reason to believe you, or any of the staff members are performing inadequately, the issue will be dealt with in the way most beneficial to both the school and its students. _

_ With regards, Lady Augusta Longbottom. _ ” 

A high inquisitor. There was no way he’d be able to properly mold Harry with a high Inquisitor breathing down his neck… Hell, there was likely no way he’d be able to keep the defenses for the stone in place!

He took a deep breath. No. He would not give into his stress. He was Albus Dumbledore for crying out loud. He was a part of the light, the greatest, most just version of magic! He had come too far to give up without a fight.

He still had a little less than two months to prepare. That was plenty of time to make things look like all was as the governors expected. 

It also helped him settle something he’d been debating about since he saw Harry be sorted into slytherin. Whether or not to give him the invisibility cloak. It was a risky gamble, but he was sure he could use this to salvage this situation. 

The sound of the howlers faded as he now began to fine-tune his plan… 

…

“So what do you think is behind it?” Blaise asked as the slytherins were enjoying their lunch.

“Behind what?” Calla asked.

“The 3rd hall corridor, the place Dumbledore said if we entered it would result in a terrible death?” Blaise said. 

“Did you not pay attention at all on the first day?” Theo asked. 

“Sorry to say, my first night here was rather unexpected and I had other things on my mind at the time,” Calla replied, narrowing her eyes. She turned back to Blaise, “but, what’s so important about it?”

“No clue, all we know is that no one under any circumstances is supposed to go in there,” Blaise shrugged.

“We’ll see how long that lasts,” Tracey laughed, “With the Weasley Twins, Tonks, Tulip, and I’m sure many who’ve yet to make their mark on the school. Someone is bound to take that warning as a challenge.”

“If whatever it is is certain death, why the hell would they keep it in the school?” Calla asked. 

“Because Dumbles is an idiot!” Merula said from across the table.

“Eh, She isn’t wrong!” Mari shrugged next to her, “Hell, he’s still yet to call me the right name… it’s been 5 years!” 

Honestly, Calla couldn’t argue there. She’d never met the man, yet something hadn’t sat right with her about him.

It first started when she learned  _ He _ was her magical guardian. Which meant he had temporary access to all her family’s riches, businesses or political power. It also meant that her being informed of her magical origin was  _ his  _ responsibility, yet despite this, she’d never even heard of him till her eleventh birthday.

That planted a distrust for the man in her… which had only grown during her time at Hogwarts. While she had heard plenty of good about him, the Slytherins seemed to be the only ones willing to speak bad about him at all. Then she considered something… was it because of Rowan?

Evidently the student hung over the slytherin house as a reminder. A reminder that anyone could betray you. 

The boy had been killed in his sixth year by a now-known death eater by the name of Madam Petricia Rakepick. Evidently when an incident had begun at Hogwarts about five years prior to Calla’s arrival, the woman had been invited to help solve it…

It had turned out, however, she had only agreed to come for personal gain, to find some treasure hidden within the walls of Hogwarts… a treasure she was willing to kill to obtain.

Ever since then, the Slytherins had been very careful to trust their headmaster’s judgement. Afterall, it was  _ him _ who had invited her… 

“...Bet you ten galleons it’s some dark artifact,” Theo suggested, bringing her back to reality. She really was developing a habit of spacing out, wasn’t she?

“Do you really think he’d be dumb enough to bring something like that into the school?” Pansy asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“He was dumb enough to let a Cerberus in,” Theo said simply, causing everyone to go quiet… no one was sure how to respond to that.

…

How did Petunia get herself into this mess? Just a month ago everything was perfect, she’d finally gotten rid of her sister’s little freak! 

Then some wizards with badges came into her house, looked in the cupboard and next thing you know she and her husband are being lead away in handcuffs!

She couldn’t believe this! They were charging  _ her  _ with child abuse?! All she did was try to beat the magic out of that ungrateful little freak, that wasn’t abuse in her mind!

Unfortunately for her, she and her husband were already on trial… and it was not going well. So far Vernon had insulted the judge about fifteen times(getting him an additional contempt of court charge), everyone was looking at them like monsters, and their appointed lawyer was regretting his life choices. 

“For merlin’s sake, just plead guilty already, maybe they’ll cut you a deal!” The man said in a tired sigh. 

“I will not!” Petunia said, standing up, “Your… blegh, Honer. My husband and I never abused that terrible child!”

“You kept him in a cupboard when you most definitely had the space and resources to properly care for him,” The judge gave her a look. He was not having any of her shit.

“Well…” She paused, “Look! Everything we did, we did so he’d be a  _ normal  _ child! Not like any of  _ your _ kind!” 

“So I take it that's what you meant when you said, ‘Beat the Freakishness out of him,’” the judge said, giving a groan, “Mrs. Dursley… are you aware exactly why such a thing is not only a bad idea but one which could have  _ disastrous  _ consequences?” 

The muggle woman had no reply. 

“Do you know what an Obscurial is?” The Judge asked, when she didn’t answer he explained, “An Obscurial is the result of a magic child being forced to suppress their abilities for an extended period of time, causing an obscurus to develop within them. Depending on the magical ability of the child, these Obscurus could cause massive damage to the surrounding area. Hence why, it is illegal to deny magic children the chance to learn to control their abilities.”

“Well… I…” Petunia searched desperately for an excuse, “I’m sure it… wouldn’t have been that bad…” 

The judge gave her a ‘Really?’ look. He turned to the jury, “Has the jury reached a verdict?” 

“Yes we have your honor,” one of the jurors stood up, “We find the accused guilty as charged.” 

With that, all Petunia could react with was; “FUCK!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Old man consequences just left retirement baby!
> 
> How does Theo know about the Cerberus? Who's Calla going to live with? Stay tuned for the next chapter, 'Gringotts' to find out!


	13. Gringotts

**Chapter 13: Gringotts**

The time had come!

Now that the weekend had rolled around and the Dursleys were likely to spend the rest of their miserable lives in Azkaban. Calla was going to Gringotts to see where she’d end up. She wasn’t sure who’d become her new guardian, except that they’d be someone picked by their parents..

That was a nice thought. She was sure her parents wouldn’t put someone like her… relatives, in charge of her well being. I mean, come on. She may have never met her parents, but she was sure with how terrible her aunt and uncle were, the disdain must have been mutual. 

So as morning rolled around, She forced herself out of bed. She hated she had to be up this early on a saturday, she’d finally gotten used to sleeping in. Letting out a yawn, she searched around for her glasses, hoping not to grab Tracey’s by mistake  _ again _ . 

When she finally found her rounded spectacles, she gave a yawn as she grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. After a quick shower and a failed attempt to tame her hair(if anything it had gotten  _ harder _ to manage), she quickly got dressed. She put on a simple black dress, with tights and pale pink jacket to deal with the November chill.

She smiled to herself in the mirror, before leaving the room. As she left the dorms, she noticed the other girls were beginning to wake as well, likely because their sleep was light enough they could hear Tracey snoring. How such a small girl could make so much noise, was something Calla would never understand.

She made her way down to the common room, giving her middle finger to the Boy’s stairs as she passed them(a little habit she picked up her first week after the third failed attempt to climb them). Not really wasting any time, she left the Snake pit and started down the hall to Professor Snape’s office. 

When she arrived, Calla gave a quick knock. After a few seconds, Snape came out, his expression telling her he was not a morning person. 

“Miss potter,” He nodded tiredly, before beginning to walk toward the stairs, “Let’s get this over with.” 

A brief walk to one of the upper floors later, and the two were met with a doorway, in the middle of which was a large gargoyle statue. 

“It is impossible to apparate into or out of the school, due to our wards. As such, the only way to enter or leave is via the Hogwarts express, or the private floo in the headmaster’s office, which can be disabled at any time. We will be taking the later,” Snape explained as he walked to the statue and muttered, “ _ lemon drops _ .” 

With that phrase, the statue moved out of the way, allowing them access.

“Keep up, Potter. We don’t have all day,” the professor said as he entered the room. 

Calla followed close behind. The room they entered was mostly cone shaped, likely the top of one of the towers. Across the walls were various moving paintings, and in the middle, an expensive looking, wooden desk was placed. Seated at it, was Albus dumbledore… 

Who Calla personally thought looked like a mall Santa Claus in a cheap wizard outfit… she wasn’t sure why, but in comparison to every other grown wizard or witch she’d met, he just looked… over the top. 

“Ah! Harry! Good to see you,” the man spoke with glee in his voice. 

Calla flinched a bit at her deadname, “It’s… Calla, sir.”

“Right, right,” Dumbledor said, he turned to Snape, “Are you quite sure you’d like to be the one to escort him, Severus?”

“As  _ her  _ head of house, it is my responsibility, Sir,” Snape said impassively.

“Very well. The floo is open, just over there,” Dumbledor pointed to the fireplace. It looked big enough to walk into. The old headmaster dipped his hand in a jar of yellow candies and held it out, “Lemondrop for the trip?”

“No thank you,” Calla said, as she and Snape walked over to the fireplace. 

“To use the floo, throw down this powder into the flames, and state your desired location  _ clearly _ . I shouldn’t have to inform you how many have ended up lost from mispronouncing their destination,” Snape said, taking a container and handing it to her, “Simply say Diagon Alley, you’ll be routed to the public floo in the Leaky Cauldron.” 

“Right then…” the young witch said, stepping into the fireplace, throwing down the powder, she yelled exactly as she was told, “Diagon Alley!” 

She wasn’t exactly sure what followed. All she knew was that she saw green flames, she felt like she was shoved through a pipe and fell out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, sick to her stomach.

She took a few seconds to get to her feat, letting out a cough. She quickly decided wizarding transportation sucked.

In a burst of green flames, Professor Snape walked out of the fireplace. 

“Motion sickness?” He asked, seeing her rather green face. 

“Is it always like that?” She asked.

“You adapt to it after about… 7 years,” Snape said as he went toward the entrance to Diagon Alley, “come.” 

“Ugh…” Calla followed, still a bit sick from the ride.

… 

Welp. Her motion sickness was worse now.

Calla had definitely forgotten how fast and spiractic the gringotts carts were. She swore she was about to puke as the cart finally pulled toward the office of her account manager.

“I… Hate… wizard… transportation..” She sighed, as she stepped out of the cart, “You’d think magic would give you a smoother ride…”

The young witch followed her head of house into the office. It was a simple room, desk in the middle, a few decorative paintings, nothing special. Behind the desk was a goblin, who turned to address them. 

“Miss Potter. I am Riphound, the manager of the Potter accounts. You are here to determine who was listed in your parents wills as your potential guardians, correct?” The goblin asked.

Calla nodded as she took a seat. 

“Verywell,” Riphound said, taking out a piece of parchment, “Before we begin, Please note you must undergo an inheritance test. Simply a precaution to ensure you are who you say you are.” 

“That… Seems fine,” Calla said, “so… What do I do?” 

“Prick your finger, and drip the blood on this parchment,” Riphound replied, handing her both the parchment and a needle, “After that, the magic should do the rest.” 

The girl nodded, taking the needle. She flinched a little as she poked herself with it. A tiny bit of blood flowed from the wound, which she allowed to fall onto the paper. The red liquid briefly glowed in a dull golden light, as text began to appear on the parchment, filling out much information. 

**_Name: Calla Lily Potter-Black_ **

The first bit confused her a little. While, yes she was thankful it was using her new name, she questioned the last bit, “Um…” 

“Gringotts has systems in place which automatically update our clients names whenever they may change,” Riphound explained, “for a small fine and some paperwork, we can send a memo to the ministry so this change will be legally recognised.”

“Yes, thank you, but…” Calla said, “why does it say ‘Potter- _ Black _ ?”

“Ah yes, if you would continue reading that would be explained,” the goblin said. 

She nodded, reading down the page. 

**_Father(s):_ **

**_James Potter(birth)_ **

**_Sirius Black(Blood adoption)_ **

**_Mother(s):_ **

**_Lily Evans-Potter(birth)_ **

“Blood adoption?” Calla asked confused, “What… is that?” 

“Well, Miss Potter. Say the Lord or Lady of a wealthy house are unable to have children, or wish to leave their lordship to an Adopted child. Blood adoption is basically a magical process that makes an unrelated child into a blood relative,” Riphound explained, with a bit of disinterest, “after the ritual, the child has access to the family Magics, wealth, trust vaults, or anything else that might be bound by blood. It is also an option to change the child's appearance to resemble the family more closely…”

“So then, I’m technically related to this ‘Sirius Black,’ guy?” She asked again. 

“Yes, yes. According to our records, Lord Black blood adopted you not long after your parents passed, as well as left you his soul heir,” the goblin nodded, “this makes sense as he was listed first as your legal guardian in your parents wills.”

Calla didn’t notice, but Snape’s eyes widened at that. Like he had just figured something out.

“I was supposed to go to this Sirius person then?” Calla said in realization. If that were the case, why had she been left with the dursleys? Why did she have to face the last 11 years of abuse? 

“Yes, he is listed as your primary caregiver. Though, I imagine his imprisonment got in the way of that,” Riphound said, reading off a paper, “The will states should he be unable to care for you, you are to go to one of the following;One, Remus Lupin, Lord and Lady Longbottom, Minerva Mcgonagall, or Severus Snape. It also says under no circumstances, are you to be placed in the care of Lily Evans-Potter’s sister, Petunia Dursley.”

Calla’s jaw was to the floor. Five people. There were five other people she could have gone to, and that was only if something happened to Black. She wasn’t aware who Lupin was, but the others on the list she had a good enough understanding of. 

Evidently her parents and Neville’s were friends(something she’d have to tell the gryffindor later on), and now the thought of her growing alongside the boy was in her head.

She could definitely see Prof. Mcgonagall as the mothering type. The woman was strict, but fair in her authority. Not to mention, the number of times Calla had seen her smile fondly and proudly when her students exceeded expectations.

She could take a guess why she hadn’t gone to Snape. Though the man seemed to have mellowed out over the past few months, she didn’t think for a second he’d be the kind of person to adopt a child. However, this did bring the revelation that her head of house somehow knew her parents…

And by far the biggest slap to the face was the fact she was never  _ supposed _ to go to the Dursleys to begin with! Hell, her parents expressly said  _ not  _ to send her there! Who in the hell decided to ignore them, and how did they get away with it?! All she knew was she was livid.

Snape was also surprised by this list, though for entirely different reasons… why was  _ he  _ chosen to take care of Lily's child… After all he’d done, after his stupid mistakes did she… Did she forgive him? Forgive him for turning to the dark, forgive him for what he’d said… He was at a loss for words… 

“So then. We are currently contacting those listed in the will for the reading, but for now, the matter of what happens to you, Miss Potter,” Riphound said. Pulling them both out of their thoughts, “I assume, since Mr. Snape is present, he is intending to take the responsibility?”

Calla looked at him, clearly she didn’t know if that was correct.    
  


“I…” Snape thought it over. Lily trusted  _ him _ with her child. She was able to look past his past actions… he owed it to her. He had to make things right, “Partial. I am far too busy to become a parent, however, I will accept partial custody with one of the other potential guardians…” He saw the surprise in Calla's eyes. To be honest, even he was shocked he was doing this, “I-if. She’ll allow me.”

“Well…” Calla was… also conflicted. Her head of house had always struck her as hard to read. Ever since the day she met him. But, in his eyes was something she hadn’t seen before… Almost every time she’d seen the potions master, his eyes either had a cold indifference, or a silent fury to them, but now… there was an unfamiliar sadness and sincerity to them. That made her consider things, “I… don’t see why we can’t give it a shot.”

“Right then,” Riphound nodded, “We’ll go through the proper procedures… meanwhile, miss Potter, I believe we should have these blocks removed.” 

He pointed to a section of the parchment. Calla read the area, noticing it seemed to pertain to her magical ability. 

**_Affinity:_ **

**_Dark_ **

**_Magical Gift(s:_ **

**_Parseltongue, Parselmagic, Occlumency_ **

**_Block(s)_ **

**_Magical core- 50%_ **

**_Parseltongue- Failed block_ **

**_Parselmagic- 100%_ **

**_Occlumency- 100%_ **

“What… are blocks?” Calla asked. She had a guess, but she wasn’t sure. 

“Simply put, they can be placed on magical children to inhibit their abilities. The magical core is quite commonly blocked among powerful families, to keep the children from accidentally harming themselves or others. As such, these blocks are typically removed when they enter school,” Riphound said, “That being said…” 

“Why were blocks placed on every one of her magical gifts?” Snape finished the thought, “Almost all of them would be harmless in most situations, if anything a few might save her life.”

“It can’t be said why, we’d have to ask the point to bestow them, which, given how old these are, would be impossible to find.…” Riphound said, “But. We can get those removed immediately.” 

“If it wouldn’t be any trouble,” Calla said. 

“Not at all,” Riphound grinned, this kid was more polite than most wizard children, “It’s a simple procedure, it shouldn’t take more than an hour.” 

“Please proceed,” Snape nodded, before turning to Calla, “I have a bit of business of my own to tend to, I trust you will be alright without me?” 

“Of course, sir,” Calla nodded. 

“May I take a copy of this?” He asked Riphound, gesturing the parchment. 

“Yes, not a problem,” the goblin replied. 

As Snape made a copy, his eyes fell on the name Sirius Black… he than left the office to give Madam Bones a quick call... He figured it was about time he let the dog out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there ya go!
> 
> Yeah, the reason I put it that Sirius blood adopted Calla, was because eventually, she ends up with lordship of the house of Black, yet no one in the fandom can actually agree whether or not canon harry was actually a black or not. So, I simply made a quick change that I'm sure we can all be satisfied with... right?
> 
> Also, yes. I am slowly making Snape grow a heart. You know, giving his redemption a bit of a jumpstart so it takes less than time. Don't like it? Tough luck, my story!
> 
> Also, Also, the potter account manager doesn't have an official name, so I just went with the one from "Harry's Questions" another fic, over on fanfiction. If you like Dumbledor bashing, check it out, it does WAY more than I could ever hope to achieve!
> 
> Anywho, stay tuned for the next chapter!


	14. parseltongue.

**Chapter 14: Parseltongue**

Calla felt… weird after the ritual. Not exactly a bad weird just… different. If anything, a little stronger, as well as feeling a bit of a headache. 

The remainder of the trip to diagon alley went as she had expected, honestly. Though she had more than a few questions as she looked over the results of her inheritance test.

“What does it mean by ‘dark?’” She asked as she and Professor Snape walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. 

“Your magical affinity. Put simply it’s what types of spells should come easy to you,” Snape replied. 

“Ah, so it’s like the force,” Calla said, earning herself a confused look from the man, “... It’s like… this fictional power from a muggle movie, and like it’s divided into two halves, the light side who are good and stuff, and the dark side who are evil and choke people without touching them.”

“Well… Not quite. There are three magical affinities, Dark, light and Grey. much like a hogwarts house, each has their own strengths and weaknesses,” Snape explained, still not sure what she was talking about.

“And dark is like slytherin?” Calla put together. 

“If by that you mean everyone in it is assumed to be evil based on the actions of a few individuals, you’d be correct,” Snape said, “However, magic, regardless of its affinity, is just like any other weapon. It is the one using it that matters.” 

That was pretty much enough to end the conversation, thus the two simply continued on their route back to the school.

…

“Well this is a predicament!” Fred yelled as he and George ran back the way they came, narrowly avoiding the various flying keys that they had angered. 

Thanks to Liz’s knowledge of animals, they were able to quickly figure out how to get past the Cerberus. As it turned out, the beast had a weakness to calming music. After getting past it, and the trap door it guarded, they were met with the devil’s snare, which was far too easily dealt with. Did they really think a simple plant like that would stop two chaotic third years who knew Lumos Maxima?

When they made it to the third room, however, they were met with an issue. The door was locked and magic proof, and the room was filled with flying keys. It didn’t take the twins long to figure out which keep was the correct one, no no, the issue was getting it. 

Thankfully, brooms were provided to allow them to catch the key… too bad the second they got on the brooms all the keys went feral and started attacking them. 

“Well, it’s not like we were ever seekers!” George replied, as the shut the door blocking off the keys, “well… now we know how that trap works.”

“Indeed,” Fred nodded, “Now the question is how do we get past it.”

“Well, the brooms aren’t truly an option…” George began to speculate.

“Do you have an idea, dear brother?” his twin asked. 

“I’d say we learn a spell a little early, my good chum,” the other ginger grinned.

…

It was just a normal day in the snake pit when Calla returned. Pretty much nothing out of the ordinary. Thus, she and Blaise were just sitting on one of the couches, playing some wizard’s chess. 

“Checkmate,” Blaise said for the third time, “You are really bad at this.”

“I’ve never had the opportunity to learn chess, sue me,” his friend groaned as they reset the pieces, “how did you get so good, anyway?”

“One of my step dad’s taught me,” Blaise said simply.

“One of?” Calla questioned his wording.

“Uh… never mind that, just a slip of the tongue,” the boy shrugged it off, not looking her in the eyes, “So… learn anything interesting about yourself at gringoots?” 

“Not much,” Calla said, slightly annoyed that he was avoiding the topic, “Just that I have a godfather in prison, someone screwed me over by not listening to my parents, I’m a dark witch, and I’m a parseltongue, whatever that is…”

Blaises eyes went wide at that, “Did… you just say you’re a parseltongue…? as in… you can talk to snakes?” 

“Oh, that’s what it means? Yeah, I can… can’t most magic people do that?” Truth be told, when she learned she was magic, she’d kind of assumed it wasn’t that strange of an ability.

“Definitely not,” Blaise said, “Parcel magic’s almost extinct!”

“Only in Europe,” Tracey butted in, causing the two to jump.

When he had calmed to her presence, Blaise asked “What?”

“While yes, the parseltongue ability has been near extinct in europe after the most final gaunt heir was a squib with no magic children, America actually has quite a few parseltongues…” Tracey explained, sitting down, “As a matter of fact, I’d say it’s likely why Calla would have such an ability.” 

“So… talking to snakes is normal in the Americas?” Calla asked, “How would that relate to me?”

“Well, the founder of the American wizarding school was an undocumented Parselmouth, as well as one of the last Gaunt Family members. Both her daughters had the ability as well, who passed it on to their children, and their children, and so on,” The girl explained, “since they family never cared much about blood purity, there’s a one in sixteen chance American wizards are born with the ability. So, if you’ve got American relatives, that’s likely where the ability came from.” 

“Huh… neat,” Calla said. 

“Well… regardless, you being in slytherin suddenly makes sense…” Blaise said, getting confused looks in reply, “one of the four founders, Salazar Slytherin. He’s reported to be the direct ancestor of almost ever parselmouth in the last thousand years, including the gaunts.”

  
“So… the only way I could be a Parselmouth is if I’m related to the scary, racist dark wizard who helped found the school?” Calla put together, “Welp. that’ll do  _ wonders  _ for my reputation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a short one, so not much to say... except this:
> 
> That little thing about American parselmouths isn't canon, it's based on logic. If Isolt Sayre was a parselmouth, which she clearly was, and didn't care about blood purity, of course, the ability would be much more widespread than her incest full, racist cousins in Europe. So, yeah, in the US, the ability is a lot more common, and not really associated with evil.
> 
> Also, though it's never been stated, I'm pretty sure Calla's heard of Salazar after three months at hogwarts, so of course she isn't thrilled about likely being related to him.
> 
> Anywho, stay tuned for the next chapter, Winter Cometh!

**Author's Note:**

> Reverse psychology is a bitch.


End file.
